SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Tekashi 69: Will He Join the Infamous in Witness Protection?

By Azi Paybarah

It's Tuesday.

Weather: It sure didn't feel like the first day of fall yesterday; the mercury in Central Park hit 88. Today will be sunny and cooler, with highs in the upper 70s.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until Monday (Rosh Hashana).

Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

Last week, a young man from Brooklyn with face tattoos and rainbow-dyed hair testified in a federal courtroom in Manhattan for hours.

He described the inner workings of his former associates — the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, who, according to prosecutors, are gang members responsible for violent crimes throughout the city.

A verdict in his trial is expected soon, but the public seems to have already rendered an opinion: By testifying, the man — Daniel Hernandez, known to millions of fans, and critics, as the rapper Tekashi 69 (or 6ix9ine) — has "all but eviscerated" his credibility in the music industry, my colleague Ali Watkins recently wrote.

More important, the gang members he testified about have threatened to kill Mr. Hernandez, and prosecutors have indicated he could enter the witness protection program, which gives people new identities and relocates them out of harm's way.

Mobsters have started over as bakery owners; reformed assassins have found careers as doll sellers, Ms. Watkins reported.

The program, officially called the Witness Security Program, is run by the U.S. Marshals Service. Since 1971, it has relocated about 8,600 witnesses and 9,900 family members of witnesses, according to the agency.

The program has protected terrorists and turncoats, kingpins and peons.

Among the people who have spent time in the program: the Mob's Salvatore Gravano, a close associate of John Gotti; Jamal Al-Fadl, an Al Qaeda defector turned cooperator; Frank Lucas, whose drug dealing in Harlem and Newark was chronicled in the film "American Gangster"; and Henry Hill, the Brooklyn-born wise guy and inspiration for the movie "Goodfellas."

But Mr. Hernandez's potential relocation may be challenging.

"It is unlikely" that the Marshals "would pay for the removal of Mr. Hernandez's signature face tattoos," Ms. Watkins reported. And "there is almost nothing in Mr. Hernandez's background that suggests a capacity for discretion." (The rapper is known for his antics on social media. In one radio interview, he said, "I tell everyone I'm a troll.")

It is also possible, but rare, to be kicked out of witness protection.

Mr. Hill was "expelled" from it in 1987 "for relentless misbehavior that included drug possession," The Times reported in a 2012 obituary. (It went on to note that "after leaving witness protection, Mr. Hill lived in comparative safety: most of those he feared were either dead or in prison.")

Most others have successfully disappeared.

Nicky Barnes, a drug dealer who was featured on a 1977 cover of The New York Times Magazine under the headline "Mr. Untouchable," testified against his former associates after spending more than two decades in prison.

He was so under the radar that it took about seven years for his death to be reported.

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Want more news? Check out our full coverage.

The Mini Crossword: Here is today's puzzle.

What we're reading

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority may cut service on a busy bus route that serves low-income Brooklyn neighborhoods. [Daily News]

A judge ordered the New York Police Department to hand over data on fare evasions. [Gothamist]

All aboard: Amtrak is launching nonstop service between New York and Washington, D.C. [NBC]

Coming up today

Join reporters from WNYC and Gothamist in a live conversation of the WNYC newsletter "We the Commuters: Homelessness in the Subways" at the Greene Space in Manhattan. 7 p.m. [$15]

A panel discusses Chinatown's culinary past at the Museum of Chinese America in Manhattan. 6:30 p.m. [$15]

Head to the New School's Theresa Lang Student Center in Manhattan for a reading of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

Films by BRIC Media Arts fellows screen at the BRIC House Stoop in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [Free with R.S.V.P.]

— Melissa Guerrero and Iman Stevenson

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times's culture pages.

And finally: Why Kal Penn set his TV show in Sunnyside

If you made a sitcom about the immigrant experience, you'd be smart to set it in Queens.

But in which neighborhood? Kal Penn, a star and a creator of such a show on NBC, recently told my colleague, "Jackson Heights and Flushing are the two I know the best."

But, Mr. Penn said, "'Flushing' is a truly terrible title for a show." And, he said, "Jackson Heights" was not much better. So he chose the more pleasant-sounding neighborhood of Sunnyside.

According to data from the New York City Community Health Profiles, all three neighborhoods are diverse. In the Sunnyside area, which includes Woodside, about a third of residents are Hispanic and about a third are Asian.

In the Flushing and Whitestone areas, more than half of residents are Asian; in Jackson Heights, more than 60 percent are Hispanic.

And in each area, more than half the residents are foreign-born, which is crucial for Mr. Penn's show. In it, he plays a disgraced city councilman who is helping people navigate the citizenship process.

["Sunnyside": Its aims are more comic than didactic.]

I briefly lived in both Sunnyside and Jackson Heights, and often visited family members who lived in Flushing. Based on my experience, each neighborhood is cool enough to have its own show.

There's a screening of "Sunnyside" tonight … in Astoria.

It's Tuesday — grab some popcorn and visit Queens.

Metropolitan Diary: Community garden

Dear Diary:

On a sunny day on a holiday weekend, we paused at a lovely community garden on Sixth Street. There were shade trees, flowers, benches to rest on and a pond with fish flashing red and gold.

A young woman, one in a group of friends, seemed to be setting up a camera in a hidden spot near us. She slid behind a pillar, telling us, with her finger to her lips, that some friends were coming and that she was hiding from them. A mystery!

A young man and woman entered the garden together, waved to the group and then stopped close to the camera, apparently by design, at least on his part.

We couldn't hear what they were saying, but their body language made it clear it was a very romantic moment.

"If he goes down on one knee," I whispered, "I'm going to cry."

And he did.

— Marion Deland

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