The notorious New Orleans street figure from the 1990’s, locked up in federal prison for more than 20 years on a life sentence, walked free this month for reasons a judge has blocked from public view.
Terrance “Gangsta” Williams, the half-brother of Cash Money Records co-founders Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Wiliams, was dealing heroin and plotting murders when an FBI wiretap ensnared him.
Williams, who is said to have helped bankroll the record label, belonged to a violent street crew called the “Hot Boys,” a name Cash Money later adopted for its breakout act starring Lil Wayne, Turk, Juvenile and Christopher “B.G.” Dorsey.
The hip-hop supergroup debuted in 1997. A year later, Terrance Williams pleaded guilty to engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and solicitation for murder.
He was caught plotting to kill a group of New York drug dealers in New Orleans to get paid for heroin they’d shipped by mail to an associate of Williams, court records show. The feds intercepted the package and listened as Williams hatched a murder plan. He got life plus 20 years.
But U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle resentenced him last month to 27½ years, records show. Williams was released on Jan. 3 at age 47, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Williams’ attorney, Townsend Myers, confirmed the reduced sentence but declined to comment. Attempts to reach Terrance Williams were unsuccessful. His mother said he remained in another state. Interim U.S. Attorney Duane Evans’ office declined to comment, citing Lemelle’s order sealing his reasons.
Though federal law directs judges to “state in open court the reasons for the imposition of a particular sentence,” judges often obscure a defendant’s cooperation and its benefits by sealing records, hearings and transcripts. Even the fact an inmate was resentenced is sometimes absent from the public docket.
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