Breaking News: Courtroom Magician Joe Tacopina Saved A$AP Rocky’s Life — Now Diddy’s Knocking on his Door…see more

On the morning of April 22, 2022, Rakim Mayers, the 33-year-old Harlem rapper better known as A$AP Rocky, returned to Los Angeles from a long vacation with his superstar girlfriend, Rihanna, in her home country of Barbados.

After stepping off the private jet at LAX, Mayers was arrested by LAPD officers and thrown in jail. He was charged with two felony counts of assault for allegedly firing two shots that grazed the knuckles of Terrell Ephron, a former member of Mayers’ hip-hop collective A$AP Mob who went by A$AP Relli, during a scuffle at a West Hollywood parking garage the previous November.

Out on bail, Mayers rejected a plea deal to serve just six months in prison, opting instead to fight the charges in court. Faced with a career-ending, life-shattering maximum sentence of 24 years.

Mayers turned to a high-profile hometown lawyer known for successfully defending rappers and entertainers, including Michael Jackson, Foxy Brown, Meek Mill and members of the Wu-Tang Clan: the swaggering $2,000-an-hour New York litigator Joe Tacopina.