Rapper ‘Lil Zay Osama’ indicted in Brooklyn for illegal machine-gun possession

January 26, 2024 Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

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Isaiah Dukes, known as rapper “Lil Zay Osama,” faces federal charges in Brooklyn after a grand jury indictment for possessing a machine gun and an unregistered firearm was announced on Wednesday.

Dukes faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He is currently detained in Illinois on unrelated charges, and will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn at a future date.

“As alleged, Dukes brought a machine gun into our district, and then dangerously left it in the back of a rideshare,” said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “This office, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to work diligently to protect our communities from such dangerous weapons.”

Dukes was charged for allegedly bringing a dangerous weapon into New York City, leaving a loaded Glock pistol with a switch, a device that converts a handgun into a fully automatic weapon, in a rideshare vehicle.

On September 29, 2022, Dukes allegedly carried the modified Glock from a Manhattan hotel to a recording studio in Queens. Law enforcement officials determined the firearm, capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, qualified as a machine gun.

The proliferation of machine gun conversion devices, such as the one allegedly possessed by Dukes, is a federal offense.

Dukes is an rapper renowned for his “pain music” that mirrors his turbulent upbringing in Chicago’s South Side, delving into themes of grief, trauma and survival. His music career, which began at a young age, was interrupted by a five-year sentence in a juvenile detention center at 16, but he was released after three years and refocused on his music, blending rap with influences from pop and R&B.

Gaining popularity with his hit “Changed Up” and signing with Warner Records in 2019, Osama has since released several successful tracks and mixtapes, including “Trench Baby” and “Trench Baby 2,” featuring collaborations with various artists.