Young Thug Arrested on Gang-Related Charges

He was indicted with about two dozen others, including some accused of murder and attempted armed robbery. The county’s district attorney has vowed to crack down on street gangs.

Young Thug, one of the most influential artists to emerge from Atlanta’s famously fertile hip-hop scene, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of gang involvement and conspiracy to violate the Georgia criminal racketeering law.

The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was charged in a sweeping grand jury indictment that identified him and 27 other people as members of the same criminal street gang and charged some of them with violent crimes including murder and attempted armed robbery.

Mr. Williams has reshaped the rap world throughout his decade-plus career and inspired a host of emulators as three of his albums reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart and he collaborated with stars across the rap world and beyond.

His arrest comes as District Attorney Fani Willis of Fulton County — a Democrat best known for investigating whether former President Donald J. Trump and his allies committed election fraud in Georgia — has vowed to crack down on street gangs in Atlanta, a city reeling from violent crime.

The arrest of Mr. Williams at a house in the well-heeled Buckhead neighborhood was confirmed on Monday night by Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Ms. Willis’s office, who said that several other people named in the indictment were also arrested.

The indictment alleges that Mr. Williams is a founder of Young Slime Life, a criminal street gang that began in Atlanta in 2012 and is affiliated with the national Bloods gang. Mr. Williams’s successful record label has been variously called YSL Records or Young Stoner Life Records; the label refers to its artists as part of the “Slime Family,” and a compilation album called “Slime Language 2” hit No. 1 on the charts in April 2021.