Taxstone, an influential hip-hop podcaster, is again making headlines, but this time, it's with a movie-style plot behind bars. The jailed media personality, whose real name is Daryl Campbell, is accused of running a sophisticated smuggling operation at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn. Federal prosecutors contend that he used an illegal cell phone to issue orders to co-defendants in a plan that included a knotted rope and a cache of contraband.
Authorities allege that between April and June 2024, Taxstone orchestrated the operation from behind bars, using a forbidden phone to communicate with accomplices on the outside. A throwback method as old-school as it gets: throwing a rope out of a window for conspirators to tie the forbidden stuff to, then pulling it back in.
But the plan came tumbling down spectacularly on June 30, 2024. The corrections officers on duty caught one group of inmates in the act, drawing a rope into their cell block's recreation room. What the guards found at the other end, where the drugs were dropped to be collected later, was a smuggler's dream: marijuana, suboxone strips, a scalpel, cigarettes, lighters, and even a cell phone charger. All that a modern prison hustler could desire.
Federal prosecutors have indicted Taxstone and his so-called co-conspirators Ian Diez, Jonathan Guerrero, Abel Mora, and Mayovanex Rodriguez on conspiracy to smuggle contraband. This charge could take on as much as an additional 10 years. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Russell Noble and Elizabeth D'Antonio are prosecuting the case.
For those not up to speed on Taxstone's latest hole-digging adventure, it's just the latest episode in a tale that is already stranger than fiction. A once raw and unrepentant voice in hip-hop, Taxstone established a following through his "Tax Season" podcast, in which he offered streetwise commentary on the culture, music, and industry politics around both. His approach was ascending quickly until his history caught up with him.
Taxstone was arrested in January 2017 for a deadly shooting at a T.I. concert in Irving Plaza in Manhattan in 2016. The physical altercation resulted in the death of Ronald McPhatter, a bodyguard for the rapper Troy Ave, and Taxstone was ultimately found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and weapons charges. By June 2023, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison, marking the end of his meteoric rise in the media.
Thanks to this latest courtroom clash, Taxstone is back in the news, though not necessarily for the reasons his fans might have wanted. If guilty, his extensive prison term could extend for years, leaving a return to the podcasting world a distant fantasy.
A man who spent years establishing his brand on a savage, unvarnished conversation about street life and perseverance now sits at the center of a scheme play that reflects just that. Except this time, there's no microphone, just a rope, a cache of contraband, and a profound series of new charges to defend against.
While hip-hop culture has always rewarded hustle, this may not be the ingenuity that commands respect. Taxstone's fame is a roller coaster when you look at it, but there's no doubt that his name won't leave the news anytime soon.
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