Lil Zay Osama Hit With Federal Prison Sentence For Leaving Loaded Machine Gun In Uber

Lil Zay Osama has received a federal prison sentence stemming from a 2022 incident in which the rapper left a loaded machine gun in a ride share in New York City.

On Thursday (Nov. 7), Lil Zay Osama, born Isaiah Dukes, was hit with a fourteen-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to possession of a machine gun earlier this year.

The Chicago native’s legal team was seeking a seven month sentence for their client, citing the deplorable conditions at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where Lil Zay Osama will serve his time. The prosecution was seeking a 27 month sentence against Lil Zay Osama, with Federal Judge Nina Morison settling on the fourteen-month sentence.

“The defendant knowingly carried a fully automatic weapon — a pistol with a switch device whose only purpose is to make a dangerous weapon all the more deadly — and then carelessly left that gun in the back of a rideshare,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said following the ruling.

“Today’s sentence serves as a reminder to anyone who may bring an illegal firearm, especially one that has been modified to increase its lethality, into New York City: There are serious consequences for your reckless actions.”

In September 2022, Lil Zay Osama and others were traveling in an Uber to a recording studio in Queens, Ny. when the driver witnessed Lil Zay Osama handling a firearm, which he accidentally left behind after exiting the vehicle.

The driver notified law enforcement and led the police back to the studio, where he fingered Lil Zay Osama as the person he saw in possession of the pistol, which was modified with a “switch” to operate like a machine gun.

The rapper was immediately arrested and charged the following day, however, the case was later dismissed without prejudice, stipulating that prosecutors could try Dukes again on the same charges at a later date.

The ruling proved to be short-lived victory for Lil Zay Osama, as the state filed a grand jury indictment against him in January 2024, charging him with with possession of a machine gun and possession of an unregistered firearm.

At the time of the indictment, Lil Zay Osama was already locked up in his homestate of Illinois on multiple gun charges, stemming from a Dec. 2023 incident in which he was also found to be in possession of a modified firearm. In that instance, police received a tip that a blue Dodge the rapper was traveling in was used in an armed jewelry store heist in New York City, leading to local police attempting to pull the vehicle over, only for a high-speed chase to ensue.

Lil Zay Osama was ultimately apprehended, with police finding a loaded Glock 29 with a laser, an extended magazine and a switch that converts the gun into a machine gun, plus a loaded Glock 19 with a 50-round drum magazine and a defaced serial number, according to prosecutors.

He is also said to have been wearing a $90,000 necklace connected to the NYC jewelry store heist at the time of that arrest.

In additon to the aforementioned charges against Lil Zay Osama, he is also wanted on two warrants, one related to an additional gun charges in Wisconsin.

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