Pop Smoke was reportedly at the center of a gang related investigation prior to his death, according to a former NYPD police chief.
In a new interview with The John Rondi Show, John Chell said that he was "personally involved" in the investigation, which implicated a number of Brooklyn gangs that Pop Smoke was "down with," such as the G-Stone Crips. The "Dior" rapper came to the attention of the NYPD once his star began to rise.
"He’s the up and coming star, if you will, and we were into that gang, and he was part of it, but we didn’t have much on Pop," Chell said (around the 5:55 minute mark in the video below).
The ex-police chief said that their most significant advantage came in 2019, when Pop allegedly transported a stolen Rolls-Royce Wraith from California to New York.
"We made an arrest, and we tried to leverage that," Chell said, explaining that authorities often employ these methods when they think popular artists are still tied to gangs. "You might be running with the gang guys, and they’re your friends," Chell said. "But you got a lot more to lose. You got millions, you’re a rising star."
Before the NYPD could launch a bigger probe, Pop Smoke was shot and killed during a home invasion in Los Angeles in February 2020. "As we were cultivating this whole gang case, I believe he got murdered," Chell said. He then recalled that Pop Smoke had "a very distinct sound — didn’t he? It really was."
The 20-year-old’s death had a huge impact on his native Canarsie for some time. "Years after that, there was always a Pop Smoke Day in Canarsie," Chell said. "We had to put a lot of cops there because a lot of gang members showed up. It got dangerous."