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Years after the high profile raid on DJ Drama's headquarters in Atlanta, another major mixtape supplier has been busted. This time, it's in New England, and it's popular mixtape deejay, Big Mike.
According to the Newton Patch, Mike (real name: Michael Willcox) was arrested in Danbury, Connecticut last week and charged with music piracy, following years of surveillance on himself and half brother Lil Mike (real name: Stephen Sabato), who was also arrested.
The mixtape vet and brother had been under surveillance by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for over two years, with agents documenting the DJ duplicating and selling copyrighted music from his Danbury home.
A search of Mike's home, located on Steson Place, turned up around 3,500 disks suspected of containing pirated music and inserts to make about 40,000 items, according to the affidavit filed in state Superior Court in Danbury and made available Monday.
The CDs included songs by Lil Wayne, Mya, The-Dream and G-Unit, as well as other Universal artists.
Some of the tapes seized included Blue Label: That Was My Joint, Hard Knock Life, New York Struggle, R&B Jump Off 50, Red Apples Falling, and Trapaholics.
A search of Lil Mike's home turned up 383 CDs with pirated music and boxes that were labeled to contain burner towers.
Based on UPS shipping records for Mike, three companies that he used to ship the CDs collected a total of more than $600,000 for UPS C.O.D.'s made between 2007 and 2009. A local police officer stated that sources said that the DJ and his associates could be making as much as $30,000 per month.
The DJ is out on $1,000 bond, and is expected in court on June 21.
On Twitter (@BigMikeRuler), he thanked his followers for the support early Thursday morning (June 16), then named off what seemed to be new mixtape releases on the way. "#THANK YOU TO EVERBODY WHO SENT SUPPORT OUR WAY MY BROTHER AND I ARE GOOD!!! DIGGY SIMMONS EARLY 2MORR NITE, FRENCH MONTANA AFTER."
In 2009, Big Mike was rumored to be arrested on similar charges.
Source: ballerstatus.com
According to the Newton Patch, Mike (real name: Michael Willcox) was arrested in Danbury, Connecticut last week and charged with music piracy, following years of surveillance on himself and half brother Lil Mike (real name: Stephen Sabato), who was also arrested.
The mixtape vet and brother had been under surveillance by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for over two years, with agents documenting the DJ duplicating and selling copyrighted music from his Danbury home.
A search of Mike's home, located on Steson Place, turned up around 3,500 disks suspected of containing pirated music and inserts to make about 40,000 items, according to the affidavit filed in state Superior Court in Danbury and made available Monday.
The CDs included songs by Lil Wayne, Mya, The-Dream and G-Unit, as well as other Universal artists.
Some of the tapes seized included Blue Label: That Was My Joint, Hard Knock Life, New York Struggle, R&B Jump Off 50, Red Apples Falling, and Trapaholics.
A search of Lil Mike's home turned up 383 CDs with pirated music and boxes that were labeled to contain burner towers.
Based on UPS shipping records for Mike, three companies that he used to ship the CDs collected a total of more than $600,000 for UPS C.O.D.'s made between 2007 and 2009. A local police officer stated that sources said that the DJ and his associates could be making as much as $30,000 per month.
The DJ is out on $1,000 bond, and is expected in court on June 21.
On Twitter (@BigMikeRuler), he thanked his followers for the support early Thursday morning (June 16), then named off what seemed to be new mixtape releases on the way. "#THANK YOU TO EVERBODY WHO SENT SUPPORT OUR WAY MY BROTHER AND I ARE GOOD!!! DIGGY SIMMONS EARLY 2MORR NITE, FRENCH MONTANA AFTER."
In 2009, Big Mike was rumored to be arrested on similar charges.
Source: ballerstatus.com