Yak Gotti Stuck In Jail Despite Acquittal In YSL RICO Case
Yak Gotti is hiring new lawyers to spring him from the Fulton County Jail even after his acquittal on a high-profile murder charge in December 2024.
The Atlanta rapper remains locked up over allegations of possessing contraband while incarcerated.
The 31-year-old artist was initially swept up in a sprawling May 2022 indictment alongside rap heavyweight Young Thug and 25 others under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The prosecution accused the group of participating in gang-related criminal activity, but after a lengthy trial riddled with disruptions—including judicial recusals and arrests of a lawyer and juror—Yak Gotti was cleared of the most serious charges, including racketeering and a 2015 murder.
Despite his courtroom victory, freedom remains out of reach.
Yak Gotti has spent more than two years in an Atlanta jail, and his incarceration took a violent turn when he was stabbed on December 1, 2024—a harrowing incident that required medical attention.
His legal team, Bruce Harvey and Nicole Westmoreland, who took up his case in January 2025, filed an emergency bond motion, pointing to dangerous jail conditions as grounds for release, according to Fox News 5.
The dire situation at the Fulton County Jail was put under a microscope after Yak Gotti’s co-defendant Shannon Stillwell filed a class-action lawsuit against Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat and Chief Jailer John Jackson over the terrible, inhumane conditions inside of the complex.
The Atlanta rapper’s push for bond, however, has been stalled. A judge in December declined to rule on the motion, citing an outstanding warrant tied to the contraband allegations.
The case has been deferred to February 2025, further delaying any possibility of release.