Feds: Rapper A.B. Milli indicted on felony gun charge
SAN FRANCISCO >> Federal prosecutors have secured a felony indictment against a prominent Bay Area rapper, charging him with possessing a pistol when he was arrested last month, court records show.
Albert Collins, 27, who raps under the stage name A.B. Milli, was indicted Thursday on charges of being a felon in possession of a loaded semiautomatic firearm. He will be jailed while the charges are pending, after a judge found prosecutors established that Collins “would pose a danger to the community if released.”
Collins was arrested by San Francisco police Nov. 2, after officers identified him as being on parole with a warrantless search clause and pulled over a BMW he was driving on Sunnydale Avenue and Hahn Street. Collins allegedly ran from police, who caught up with him and placed him in handcuffs, according to the criminal complaint.
As he was being detained, Collins allegedly told the officers, “Y’all got me” and, “the gun’s in the garbage can.” An officer retraced his steps and found a pistol under a parked Audi. Police also found a gun hidden inside the pant leg of his jeans, the complaint alleges.
Collins has prior felony convictions for robbery, grand theft, and gun possession that make it illegal for him to carry firearms, according to the complaint. If convicted he faces up to 10 years in prison.
The complaint alleges that Collins is a member of a San Francisco gang that started in the Sunnydale Public Housing Project. In their bid to keep him in custody, federal prosecutors filed a motion citing Collins’ lyrics from a song recorded more than seven years ago, in which Collins raps, “A.B. Milli getting guap … I shoot these shells and yeah they hot.”
Collins’ raps have already found their way into Bay Area courtrooms, most notably in the 2018 trial of Marcus Gaines of Antioch and Mario Pitteard of Sacramento. The two were accused of gunning down Shanique Marie, who was shot to death on Highway 4 in Pittsburg in what police described as a failed attempt to murder Marie’s boyfriend, a passenger in the car.
The motive for Marie’s murder, according to prosecutors, was a diss track recorded by Collins and Kenyana “Yatta” Jones, aimed at Pitteard, who rapped under the stage name “NastyO.”
The song accused Pitteard of cooperating with police in a burglary case. Authorities claimed Pitteard — a rival gang member — shot at Marie’s boyfriend because he was friends with Jones. Both Gaines and Pitteard took plea deals after a mistrial was declared following the death of a juror.