In 2012, Rick Ross got checked by the Gangster Disciples for using their hand signals and for calling himself Larry Hoover, the gang's co-founder, on his track 'B.M.F.'
The word was the Disciples demanded Ross pay them for evoking their names, and shut him out states such as Illinois, Tennessee and North Carolina when he didn't.
At the time, Ross said he was cancelling shows in those states because he was upset with their promotion, not because of the Disciples' threats.
However, a new indictment against 48 Gangster Disciples members in nine states suggest the Disciple's shakedown of Ross was very real.
Beginning in or about November 2012, defendants Shauntay Craig, Alonzo Walton, Kevin Clayton and Donald Glass, and other Gangster Disciples members threatened rapper R.R. with physical harm unless rapper R.R. paid the Gangster Disciples for use of the gang’s name and symbols, reads the indictment.Ross has since played some of the states he was banned from, suggesting he eventually paid up. He also hasn't referenced the Gangster Disciples in any new material since.
The Bawse's camp has declined to comment on the indictment.