Month: November 2018

I would like to dedicate my last blog post to an ongoing case that I have been following regularly for the past month now. The man pictured above is twenty-two-year-old Brooklyn native and American rapper, Daniel Hernandez, also known as Tekashi 6ix9ine. This American rapper is currently facing racketeering and firearm charges brought up upon him by the Federal government. He is currently facing life in prison for multiple counts of racketeering charges that date all the way back to 2013. Tekashi 6ix9ine’s recent rise to fame in 2017 came from his frequent promotion of the Nine Trey Bloods, a Blood affiliated gang in New York City, in his music videos and in the music video for his first hit single “Gummo” which helped make him a household name in the Hip-Hop community. Hernandez, just months before being arrested on these federal charges, had just finished pleading guilty to charges including the use of a child in a sexual performance and exposing himself to a minor. He was handed four years of probation and one thousand hours of community service for this guilty plea. Certainly, this was a slap on the wrist for Hernandez as the average individual brought up on these charges, in the state of New York, would be looking at about one to three years in prison for these two offenses. The judge presiding over this case, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Felicia Menni, promised Hernandez if he stayed out of trouble over the course of his probation he would not have to register as sex-offender. This decision by Menni was one she would soon learn to regret as a few weeks later federal agents had overheard 6ix9ine’s close friend and manager “Shotti” over a wiretap stating that he wanted to kill 6ix9ine. This happened right after Tekashi 6ix9ine had fired his whole management company after they allegedly robbed him of over $350,000 in finances that was supposed to be guaranteed to him for the completion of fifteen live performances. However, once this threat to Hernandez’s life was made the FBI, by law, were required to notify 6ix9ine that his life was in danger and had offered him government protection. He declined their offer and wanted to be released immediately, however, the FBI declined this request. The FBI believed that since his life was already in danger and they had already planned on arresting him in a few months on racketeering charges it was best to arrest him then. Hernandez went to his arraignment hearing days later and was denied bail even after offering all the money he had in his bank account which totaled $1.7 million. He pleaded not guilty to the racketeering and firearm charges and is set to stand trial on September 4, 2019. Until then, Tekashi 6ix9ine will be held in The Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City in general population for the next ten months.

I personally worry for Tekashi 6ix9ine as he is one of my favorite new rappers out today. I have followed all his music since his big break in 2017 and have attend two of his concerts. I also followed him on social media where he had gone viral for his wild antics and run-ins with law enforcement in the past year. In the end, I hope that he does not get life in prison, however, I do think he deserves some form of punishment for what he has done. Since his trial begins ten months from now and he was denied bail, fans like myself will not be hearing any new music from 6ix9ine for a while. Hopefully, he will only receive two years in prison for these crimes and will try to separate himself from his current gang affiliations once he is released in the future.

 

Works Cited:

Mojica, Nick. “New Details in 6ix9ine’s Sexual Misconduct Case – XXL.” XXL Mag, 14 Dec. 2017, www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/12/tekashi-6ix9ine-child-sex-complaint-details/.

Staff, TMZ. “Judge Who Sentenced Tekashi 6ix9ine to Probation Says Recent Violence Is Not on Her.” TMZ, TMZ.com, 12 Nov. 2018, www.tmz.com/2018/11/11/tekashi69-sentencing-child-sex-case-probation-judge/.

 

We have probably all heard the story of Jack The Ripper. This tale is over a century old and the true identity of this killer still remains unknown to this day. These string of murders, in fact, occurred in the summer of 1888 in the Whitechapel District of London, England and have made this area infamously known for being the birthplace of the villainous British serial killer Jack The Ripper. This serial killer got his name from the gruesome way in which he would murder his victims. He targeted primarily prostitutes and he would kill his victims by first slashing their throats and then disemboweling them. Jack The Ripper took the lives of a total of five young women in the summer of 1888. In fact, the first person to fall victim to the wrath of Jack The Ripper was Mary Ann Nichols. This woman was found on her back with her throat severely slashed and her organs partially removed. This marked the start of the Whitechapel murders and the hunt for the infamous criminal mastermind behind these series of attacks. The second victim in this line of murders was Annie Chapman. Her throat had also been slashed, however, this time instead of removing her organs Jack The Ripper had removed just her womb. British law enforcement analyzed the way her womb had been removed and began to draw conclusions on who the suspect could possibly be. They believed that after considering the manner in which her womb had been removed the only person who could have performed this act was someone in either the medical field such as a doctor or someone with extensive anatomical knowledge of the human body. The third victim, Elizabeth Stride, was different from the last two as only her throat had been slashed and her organs had been left intact. Authorities theorized that someone had intervened in Stride’s killing, therefore, helping explain why Jack The Ripper was not able to complete this killing as he intended. The fourth victim on the list was Elizabeth Eddowes. Jack The Ripper had slashed her face and throat, removed her uterus, and had both of her kidneys expelled. Ripper’s last and final victim was Mary Kelly and she had been murdered more violently and brutal as the rest of the victims. Kelly was found with her throat slashed, was disemboweled, and she was even skinned from head to toe. Eight suspects were found by police as the person behind these crimes, however, none of them were convicted. Eyewitnesses at some of the crime scenes claimed that Jack the Ripper was a man, however, some theorize that Jack The Ripper could have possibly been a woman which also helps explain why she was able to stay under the raider and avoid police for so long. The killer behind the Whitechapel murders may forever remain unknown. Jack The Ripper’s letters to police will forever make him a staple in crime history as they were extremely trivial and misleading. The story of Jack The Ripper even today still continues to fascinate me even to this day. Without modern cameras and technology, cases such as these have become very hard to solve. I strongly feel that today we as Americans take technology for granted as it has helped solve some of the most difficult of crimes.

 

Have you ever been scammed? Maybe even hacked? Or maybe you haven’t? Or maybe you actually have and haven’t even noticed? Cybercrime is an issue that continues to face Americans each and every day. In an article titled These Cybercrime Statistics Will Make You Think Twice About Your Password: Where’s the CSI Cyber team when you need them? it states, “With 1.5 million annual cyber attacks, online crime is a real threat to anyone on the internet. That number means there are over 4,000 cyber attacks every day, 170 attacks every hour, or nearly three attacks every minute,” (These Cybercrime Statistics Will Make You Think Twice About Your Password: Where’s the CSI Cyber team when you need them?). That means every day you get on your computer or log into the internet you risk the possibility of being potentially hacked or being scammed by a random phishing website. There have been instances where even I have been on the internet and I have been spammed with pop up windows and random emails saying that “IF YOU TAKE THIS SURVEY YOU CAN WIN A FREE IPHONE”. I know these are fake and I am smart enough to not take these offers. I warn you today about these potential phishing schemes because I was almost scammed over the summer by a PSU phishing website scheme. I usually do not give in to the pressures presented by these fake phishing sites. However, over the summer I was almost scammed by someone on the internet claiming to be a college professor here at Penn State. They contacted me over email claiming to be a Penn State college professor named professor Morgan from the English department at Penn State. They also claimed to be in desperate need of an undergraduate assistant who could take care of some of her busy work while she was gone. She told me that she needed me to do a set of tasks for her before she returned back from her trip from Australia. The first task she asked me to complete was to buy blank checks from the store and then try to send money over to an account attached to her business. Professor Morgan informed me that if I continued to complete the tasks she asked from me that I would be certified to work as her personal assistant for three hours a week for a paycheck of $200. Myself, being new to college and everything, believed this opportunity to be real due to the fact it came from my PSU email and it was from a professor. Over time I became to become very skeptical of this offer and decided to call the Penn State office. After calling PSU to confirm whether or not this offer was legit, they told me that the opportunity I was pursuing was a phishing scheme that had also been sent to other students like myself. If I were to go even further with this scheme I could have gotten myself into serious legal trouble and would have lost money in the process. From this experience, I have become very conscious of what I believe to be true on my Penn State email. To all my readers, my legal fanatics, and my fellow peers please be mindful when you’re on the internet as you never know who is on the other side of that screen.