Atlanta rapper Fredrick Norman, aka “Slowkey Fred," is one of 11 people facing federal charges in connection with an alleged straw-purchasing scheme, according to records and interviews.
Highlights
- ATF agents traced nearly 300 firearms purchased in Georgia from dozens of gun retailers to the suspects.
- Some were found at crime scenes and in the possession of convicted felons in Philadelphia.
- 11 suspects in Georgia and Pennsylvania are accused of trafficking guns from Georgia to Pennsylvania.
- Seven of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges; another has not had a plea or a lawyer listed in court records as of Monday.
- Prosecutors say the ring ran a classic straw-purchasing scheme, in which someone buys a gun for someone else who typically can’t legally buy one or doesn’t want to leave a paper trail.
- After two years of record violence in Philadelphia, officials are concerned that more weapons from this case could turn up in wrong hands.