Rapper Casanova (real name Caswell Senior) recently suggested that he was waiting to be pardoned while serving time for federal racketeering conspiracy and drug charges. For the uninitiated, the rapper was one of the 18 men arrested in 2020 for their alleged affiliation with the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation, a gang thought to have originated in New York City.In 2022, he pleaded guilty to "one count of conspiring to conduct and participate in the conduct of the affairs of a criminal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity and one count of conspiring to distribute over 100 kilograms of marijuana." He was sentenced to 188 months in prison in June 2023.On November 19, 2025, X account @SaycheeseDGTL posted a screenshot of Casanova's Instagram Story, where he had written:"Im just in my cell dancing waiting to be pardoned."This is not the first time the Brooklyn rapper has suggested that he was awaiting a pardon. In September 2025, he took to Instagram Story to write:""God thank you for pardoning me" I hope that don't go over yall heads!!"It is unclear whether the rapper is on track to receive a presidential pardon at the time of writing this article. According to XXL Magazine, Casanova is reportedly serving his sentence at the Nevada Southern Detention Center. He was previously placed at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, New Jersey, ahead of his sentencing.Exploring Casanova's sentencingIn May 2022, Casanova pleaded guilty to the drug charge and the RICO conspiracy charge, two years after he turned himself in to the authorities. He also admitted to being involved in a shooting incident in Florida in July 2020, where he reportedly shot a man and left him grievously injured. According to a press release on the DOJ's website, Judge Philip M. Halpern sentenced Casanova to 188 months for "racketeering and narcotics offenses arising out of his leadership role in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Bloods Gang (“Gorilla Stone”)" in June 2023.The prosecution claimed that the rapper was involved in a shooting in Florida in 2020 and a robbery in New York City in 2018, as part of the racketeering conspiracy charge. He also allegedly conspired to traffic over 100 kilograms of marijuana. The press release further claimed that Casanova was allegedly a "powerful, respected, high-profile member" of the gang. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams claimed that the rapper's "stature in the community" was crucial to the gang's successful recruitment and nationwide expansion in a statement after the sentencing, adding:“Caswell Senior is not just a notorious recording artist, but he is also a high-profile leader of a vicious street gang and a magnet for gang violence. At a crowded Miami house party, Senior personally fired a gun that seriously injured and could have killed a victim, inciting a shootout.""Further, Senior’s stature in the community was central to Gorilla Stone’s successful recruitment and nationwide expansion. Today’s sentencing — along with the other significant sentences that have been imposed in this case — shows once again that gang life is not worth it and will lead to many years in prison,” Williams continued.According to Billboard, the prosecution requested that he serve 188 to 235 months in prison ahead of his sentencing, stating that the rapper was “a high-profile gang leader” who used his music to amplify "the message of the gang” and help to recruit “a generation of new members.” SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 @SaycheeseDGTLLINKCasanova, was sentenced today in federal court to 188 months (15 years) in prison for racketeering and narcotics offensesMeanwhile, his legal team argued that he should serve a much lower sentence, claiming that the rapper was “not involved in the gang’s daily activities” and began “to distance himself” from the gang to focus on his music career. Ultimately, Casanova was sentenced to 188 months and was ordered to forfeit $50,000. In an interview with XXL Magazine in January 2025, Casanova spoke at length about his drug charge, saying that his regret was "not knowing the law" at a federal level."I think everybody in the federal system has regrets and I think my regret is not knowing the law. And I don't mean the regular law. I mean the federal law, because state-wise, I'm good. I could've promoted marijuana. To clear this up, I don't even have a marijuana sale. I don't have a sale. So, off of Instagram, they just threw out a number and said I was selling this amount of drugs.""They just seen me promoting marijuana on Instagram and said, 'Oh yeah, you're selling marijuana.' You know, a lot of rappers promote marijuana and they're not in jail, but again, since I was tied to a gang, they just looked at it like, 'You know what, let's wrap this guy up and whatever we have to wrap him up with.' That's where the racketeering comes in. Federally, it's bad, but state-wise, it's not bad."On a musical front, Casanova released his latest album, I Get It Now, in December 2024.