Gangster rappers and crime

Associated Press:

When police arrested Ronell Wilson, his pockets were stuffed with the type of violent poetry that boys have been scribbling in notebooks since the advent of gangster rap.

Wilson called himself "Rated R," warned any challengers to wear a bulletproof vest, and boasted of leaving .45-caliber slugs in the heads of his enemies.

The clumsy verses — littered with misspelled words — may never land Wilson a record deal, but to prosecutors, they were solid gold.

At federal court in Brooklyn this month, government attorneys trying Wilson on charges that he murdered two undercover police officers presented the lyrics to a jury as evidence that the 23-year-old is a remorseless killer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Morris J. Fodeman asked jurors to take special note of one stanza. In it, Wilson had written "Ain't goin' stop to I'm dead."

The jury took two days to convict, and Wilson now faces a possible death sentence.

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