.....they get arrested.
Ja Rule, Lil Wayne hit with unrelated weapons charges
"Foooooooooooo Sheezy!!!!!"
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim...lated_wea.html
Rappers Ja Rule and Lil Wayne must have been thinking about their newest single - "Uh Oh" - after they were busted on gun charges.
Cops said they arrested the hip-hop artists in separate incidents in Manhattan after a Lil Wayne & Friends concert at the Beacon Theater on Broadway late Sunday.
Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, was pulled over with his posse in an ultra-luxury, blue Mercedes-Benz Maybach around 10:37 p.m. on the upper West Side, cops said.
A police spokesman said the car's registration had expired.
Cops said they found a loaded .40-caliber Taurus handgun inside the sedan. A police source said the gun's serial numbers had been ground off.
Ja Rule and two other men in his car were charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
About an hour later, in nearby Columbus Circle, cops from the city's Intelligence Division pulled over a bus carrying Lil Wayne for an unspecified traffic violation, a police source said.
The cops smelled marijuana and boarded the bus, the police source said, where they found Derrick Lawrence of Brooklyn trying to flush half a pound of pot down the toilet.
Cops said they also recovered an illegal, loaded .40-caliber Taurus handgun - the same type of weapon found in Ja Rule's ride - in plain sight in a back bedroom.
Lil Wayne, 24, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Lawrence was charged with criminal possession of marijuana.
After both rappers posted bail, Lil Wayne left the courthouse surrounded by seven beefy bodyguards. He didn't comment.
Ja Rule, dressed in a Jesus T-shirt, bathed in the attention, kissing two courtroom artists and signing the sketch they made of him during the arraignment.
He also spoke out about the roots of violence and plugged his new CD, "The Mirror."
"If you need to know why there is so much crime and corruption and hatred and violence, you need to look at yourself," he said, moments before being whisked away in a waiting SUV.
Both are due back in court Friday.
Defense lawyer Stacey Richman told Supreme Court Justice Abraham Clott cops were targeting celebrities.
"We absolutely maintain that we are not guilty of these charges," said Richman, who was representing both men.
Ja Rule's car, cited by police for not having insurance or registration, was parked in front of the Beacon Theatre all night, Richman said. Yet police waited until Ja Rule showed up to make the arrest.
"There were police all around the theater all night," Richman said. "So quite clearly, they waited for Mr. Atkins to get into the car. It's an attack upon his celebrity."
She said Lil Wayne was undressing on his tour bus when he was arrested.
She pointed out that Lil Wayne is an honor student at the University of Phoenix, which he attends online.
"This is a very impressive young man," she said.
Richman also told the court both men did charity work and raised money for law enforcement and the Boy Scouts.
Ja Rule, who has a home in Saddle Brook, N.J., has a rap sheet that includes a marijuana arrest in July 2004 in New York. He paid a $550 fine.
Lil Wayne has no criminal record in New York, but he was arrested on marijuana charges in Atlanta in 2004.
