Fulton County District Lawyer Fani Willis has constructed a fame as a tough-on-crime prosecutor wanting to fill Atlanta prisons by means of sweeping indictments. However YSL Mondo, who co-founded the Young Stoner Life music crew with Young Thug within the early 2010s, tells Rolling Stone that the Fani Willis he sees on TV isn’t the identical girl who served as his protection lawyer in 2019 throughout an aggravated assault case.
“This isn’t her character, this isn’t who she is,” he says throughout a telephone name. “I accomplished had auntie-to-nephew, mother-to-son kind of talks together with her. I do know this not her character. That is what made me begin taking a look at [the YSL case] like I do know it’s larger than simply her. It’s politics behind this shit. It’s different those who’s behind her pulling strings.”
Willis — who’s at present prosecuting Younger Thug and 13 different defendants in a RICO case alleging that YSL is a criminal gang, which he has denied — labored as a prosecutor within the Fulton County DA’s workplace for 16 years, however she briefly left the workplace in 2018 to determine her personal non-public observe, The Regulation Workplaces of Fani T. Willis, LLC. Mondo, a West Atlanta rapper who dropped his debut album 1 Of Them Ones on January 17, says he hadn’t beforehand identified of Willis or her fame as a prosecutor earlier than his cousin prompt her as a protection lawyer. “I by no means heard of this girl earlier than, I by no means heard no instances she fought or nothing. I simply went off of the energy of my cousin saying that she was a very good lawyer, she’s a very good girl and she or he’s her good friend. I went off of that, then I employed her.”
He posted a clip of his case’s 2019 courtroom proceedings on Instagram. Within the video, which has since been deleted, the 2 stand earlier than a decide, and Willis pats him on the shoulder whereas he hugs his youngster, who was introduced as much as the protection’s desk. “It actually wasn’t nothing that I used to be making an attempt to maintain a secret ’trigger the video is on my web page,” he says. “That video proper there went viral. I used to be taking pictures that on the market as a result of I do know it’s going to finish up arising,” Mondo says. Mondo says he posted the video to proactively stop anybody from pondering “bizarre shit” about his interactions with Willis. There’s been immense controversy surrounding December’s plea agreements within the YSL indictment, and Mondo indicated that he doesn’t need his identify wherever close to the hypothesis.
Fani Willis, reached by way of e mail, appeared to substantiate that she represented YSL Mondo, although she used his authorities identify (which he requested that we not print) and famous, “I have no idea him by the identify you name him.”
“All conversations with him are lawyer/shopper protected, and previous confirming I represented him can be inappropriate,” Willis wrote. “Oh, I feel I can say I favored him. I hope he’s nicely.”
She added, “After I represented [him], he acquired 110% effort from me. I advocated for him with zeal. I have a tendency to fulfill my shoppers the place they’re. I hope you perceive what which means. I need to see him do wonderful issues together with his life, and I hope that’s the place he’s headed.”
Mondo says that Willis was a “nice lawyer” for him, getting his aggravated assault cost dropped to a lesser one and having him sentenced to “a program” in lieu of jail time. He says that even after his sentence, she labored to get him an early launch from this system resulting from COVID. And past her casework, he says that the 2 shared a “cool relationship,” together with her being conscious of his rap profession and even utilizing it in her protection. That’s why the YSL indictment is shocking to Mondo. “That’s not her character,” he contends. “She’s virtually like, probably not road, however she understands what goes on, bro. She understands life to a sure diploma. She ain’t making an attempt to take all these little Black dudes down. She ain’t that kind of girl, man. I’m telling you, she’s not.”
Mondo recollects that Willis’ closing recommendation to him supplied a glimpse of the place her profession was headed.
“She was like, ‘don’t mess my identify up now. I’m about to get able to run for this head DA. You fuck round and do one thing else, I’m going to sock it to your ass,’” he recollects of their dialog. (Willis advised us the feedback “sound like me, however I don’t recall the dialog verbatim.”) After his case was resolved, the 2 didn’t speak, and he hadn’t stored up together with her till two years later, when he noticed her press convention saying her want to convict his mates in YSL, together with Younger Thug. “Subsequent factor you realize, I noticed her on TV doing this indictment, and I used to be so puzzled, like, ‘rattling, the place the hell this come from?’” he recollects.
Mondo says he met Thug by means of their mutual good friend Buck Buck, they usually co-created Younger Stoner Life solely as a music crew. In 2019, he had a public disagreement with Thug after Mondo’s Instagram feedback about founding YSL had been misconstrued, however he says the 2 have since mended their variations and that he’s been maintaining with Thug’s household because the indictment. “I’ve been speaking to Mama Thug, I’ve been speaking to his sisters,” he says, including that Thug is “staying sturdy” given his circumstances. “Thug is protecting a very good spirit and protecting his head up, however sure stuff he’s simply disillusioned about,” he says, declining to get into specifics.
Younger Thug, actual identify Jeffery Williams, and 13 of his co-defendants are set to start trial someday within the subsequent six weeks after the in depth jury choice course of concludes.
