CHICAGO (AP) — A music video a Chicago rapper hoped would boost his show-business career has helped land him a more than 15-year prison sentence instead.
Prosecutors say a federal judge sentenced 31-year-old Ricardo Burgos Tuesday for possession of a firearm by a felon and distribution of a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty earlier.
The 2016 video shows Burgos brandishing a .45-caliber pistol and another gun while rapping about shooting rivals. He purportedly belongs to the Conservative Vice Lords street gang. His performance name is “Nation.”
Prosecutors say the pistol was stolen from an Indiana store. It was used in a shooting before the video was made.
A defense filing says Burgos grew up in foster care. It acknowledged his lengthy criminal record but said he’d “turned a new page in his life.”
