Pop Smoke Was Reportedly Under Investigation By NYPD Before His Death
Pop Smoke died back in 2020, and his untimely passing means information about his life is still coming to light.
Most recently, former NYPD police chief John Chell says the Brooklyn native was under investigation at the time of his death.
During an interview with The John Rondi Show, Chell spoke about Pop’s alleged ties to the G-Stone Crips and how the NYPD first began investigating him for transporting a stolen Rolls-Royce from California back to New York.
He’s alleged to have “knowingly and intentionally” transported the luxury car and was facing 10 years in prison.
“We made an arrest, and we tried to leverage that,” Chell said. “You might be running with the gang guys, and they’re your friends, but you got a lot more to lose. You got millions, you’re a rising star.”
When the investigation started to see some progress and the NYPD was “cultivating this whole gang case,” Pop was killed on the West Coast.
Chell’s been on the force for a long time and says his first-ever run-in with a rapper was likely with Busta Rhymes back in the mid-90s.
“He was very popular back then,” Chell remembers. “He was getting a haircut on Church Avenue in East Flatbush, and I guess he wore too much bling and they robbed him. They robbed him… of thousands of dollars in jewelry.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Chell discussed New York Jets player Kris Boyd being shot, as well as other gang-related rappers like Bobby Shmurda and Tekashi 6ix9ine.
In 2019, Pop Smoke was the latest hitmaker to come out of New York, with hits like “Dior” and “Welcome To The Party,” and was seen as a pioneer of the New York drill scene. But as his star began to rise, he was killed during a home robbery in February 2020 in an Airbnb rental in Hollywood Hills.
