The YNW Melly trial has taken an interesting turn as the main undercover detective Danny Polo testified to a series of text messages taken from Melly’s phone from several renowned rappers in the industry.
Detective Polo made headlines Friday when he revealed that he was uncomfortable testifying in court without a mask on and that a violent Florida gang has put a $50k bounty on his head. On Monday, his testimony continued as he testified to text messages and evidence taken from YNW Melly’s phone during the investigation.
During his testimony, the detective testified to texts sent between Melly and others who are alleged gang members. The prosecution’s examination in chief was seeking to establish that Melly had a connection to the Gangster Killer Bloods (GKB) under the United Blood Nation (UBN) Gang and that he had taken an oath to join the criminal enterprise two days before his friends were killed.
Several of the messages showed the oath that he took to be loyal and to respect and uphold the rules and regulations of the gang GKB gang. The witness also went on to address text messages from alleged gang members Goon and Hurk to YNW Sakchaser, which included tests speaking about JGreen, Young Thug, Boosie Badazz, French Montana, Juelz Santana, and Quando Rondo.
The prosecution and defense went back and forth about the cell phone from which the text messages were extracted. The prosecution is alleging that the phone belongs to Melly, but the defense says at least three other people used the phone, so most of the evidence on it is hearsay as the prosecution cannot prove that they were sent by Melly.
Two hours after his testimony, defense attorney David Howard again objected to Detective Polo testifying in the mask as he raised that the argument that he was an undercover detective was faulty as Polo’s wife had posted a public photo revealing his face, which can be easily found on the internet.
After a sidebar, the testimony continued mask-less, with Polo going through text messages which he interpreted. In one text, he claimed that Juelz Santana is a member of the GKB gang. When questioned about texts mentioning French Montana, he said he couldn’t tell whether he is or isn’t a GKB member.
One text also mentioned Young Thug asking what “set” he was on, meaning his ranking in the gang.
“You beloved wat was set is @youngthug pushing now,” the text read while a response showed “murder,” which the detective interpreted to mean that Thugger was on the 5th floor.
“Fifth floor is referring to the ranking system…fifth floor or five star general,” the detective said.
There is also a discussion that mentioned that Quando Rondo was “lame a$$ hated.”
Text messages sent to YNW Melly after the murder of his two friends by a gang member called Goon read, “You straight? I just heard what happened last night.”
At one point, another text message mentioned Kodak Black and Boosie, the detective said. The text read, “you talk to Kodak all the time if so he should check dem boys out dat boosie was gonna sign quando lame ass hated on them and told boosie not to sign them.” NBA YoungBoy was also mentioned in text messages referring to a fight between YoungBoy and Sakchaser.
The prosecution also revealed text messages from Melly and his mother, Jamie, in which he asked for a gun after a dispute between his friend YNW Sakchaser’s mother and sister.
It’s unclear if his mother had bought him the gun. However, prosecutors sought to link the text and the evidence by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office ballistics expert Jorge Bello, who testified that YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser had been shot with a .40 caliber shotgun.
A murder weapon has never been recovered.
Meanwhile, things got heated between the judge and the prosecution as it was revealed that the prosecution failed to admit a second forensics report on the ballistics, causing the judge to deny the request to introduce the evidence into the trial on Monday.
As for Melly, photos of him throwing up the GKB gang signs were shared in court, and other text messages to another alleged gang member named Kurk saw Melly allegedly committing to the gang and expressing frustration as to how tiring pursuing his rap career was while fulfilling his duties as a member of the gang.
The rapper is on trial for two counts of first-degree murder for the death of his friends Juvy and Sakchaser in 2018.
