Chart-topping rapper Jeffery Williams, better known as Young Thug, is currently on trial in Atlanta, charged with racketeering. Prosecutors are trying to paint him as the leader of a wolf pack – his alleged gang, Young Slime Life. But the artist appears to have no qualms with claiming that imagery as his own.

Prosecutors allege Young Slime Life, a street gang associated with the Bloods, has been wreaking havoc in the Atlanta area with Mr. Williams at its head. The defense, on the other hand, says the only YSL connected to the rapper is Young Stoner Life Records – an Atlanta-based record label founded in 2012 by Mr. Williams and two others who have already pleaded guilty in the case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is also prosecuting President Trump, brought a wide-ranging indictment against Mr. Williams and 27 other defendants using Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, or RICO, the same statute she’s using against Mr. Trump.

In Mr. William’s case, Ms. Willis now has just five others to prosecute thanks to a series of guilty pleas and severed cases. The use of RICO means Ms. Willis doesn’t have to prove defendants committed any specific crimes. Instead, she can win by convincing the jury defendants were guilty (in this case of gang activity) through association.

At the beginning of the trial, Fulton County’s chief deputy district attorney, Adriane Love, read the jury a quote from Rudyard Kipling’s famous 1894 poem, “The Law of the Jungle:” 

“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack,” she read, going on to explain how Young Thug’s gang “moved like a pack” to dominate and terrorize Greater Atlanta. “YSL operated as a pack,” Ms. Love argued. “They knew who their leader was, and they knew the repercussions of not obeying their leader.”

At a later court date, Young Thug arrived at the courthouse wearing a sweater that showed a wolf juggling records in his paws. Readers of courtroom tea leaves saw this as a mocking commentary on the prosecutor’s invocation of Kipling. Mr. Williams’ current girlfriend, however,  insisted that  the sweater was purchased two weeks prior and that its parallels to the Kipling poem were pure coincidence. Some social media users, however, remained convinced otherwise.

“It’s the start of week 2 of the YSL/Young Thug RICO trial, and Thug made a bold statement with his fit today,” one X user wrote. “His sweater depicts a cartoonish wolf. This could be seen as a direct ‘F- You’ to DA Love, who likened Thug to the leader of a wolf pack in opening.”

“Now why tf would Young Thug wear a wolf sweater to court after the prosecutors accused him of being the lead Wolf of the packkkk??? Plssss,” another X user shared.

While this fashion choice may be the latest buzz surrounding Young Thug’s trial, it certainly is not the only noteworthy occurrence of week two. When Atlanta police investigator Stephen McKesey shared testimony about a 2020 argument outside a gas station that led to Young Thug’s brother, Quantavious Grier, being arrested on a gun charge, Mr. McKesey got an important detail wrong.

Defense attorney Careton Matthews, Sr., asked Mr. McKesey if Mr. Grier was present in the courtroom that day, and Mr. McKesey said that he was. The person Mr. McKesey pointed out, though, was actually defense attorney Lamar Gardner. Mr. Grier is currently in prison after violating conditions of a plea deal he struck in December 2022.

“They look alike,” Mr. McKesey said. “They look like they could be brothers.”

Mr. McKesey is one of a reported 737 people listed on the prosecution’s witness list. It’s unclear how many will ultimately testify, but the trial could take close to a year because of the case’s sheer scope, with the alleged crimes being brought forth in this case — including murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, witness intimidation, and drug dealing — spanning from 2015 to 2022.

The last big RICO trial brought by Ms. Willis, against a group of teachers in 2014, lasted eight months, the longest trial in Georgia history. Mr. Trump’s forthcoming RICO trial, which also has a large number of defendants and multiple, complicated charges, could last just as long or longer.