Anthony Lopez, better known as YM Bape, was sentenced to 28 years to life for his role in a murder-for-hire conspiracy in New York City criminal court on Thursday. The sentencing came after a jury convicted Lopez, 34, of murder, conspiracy, criminal solicitation, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon on Dec. 13, 2024.
Lopez went viral in 2016 under the name YM Bape, earning notoriety in videos that showed him walking the streets of New York City and harassing people for wearing Supreme. In social media clips, Lopez branded himself “The Ape” and, clad in clothes by Japanese streetwear brand Bape, repeated his catchphrases: “Fuck Supreme” and “I’m banging on my chest.”
In a 2018 interview on the No Jumper podcast, Lopez gave a convoluted rationale for his vendetta against Supreme. He explained that he’d been annoyed by seeing the brand on his Snapchat nonstop and started calling out people who wore it to “see who’s staticky.”
Prosecutors say that after Lopez was shot three times on April 18, 2019, on New York City’s Lower East Side, he sought to exact revenge on a neighborhood gang rival who he believed was responsible. According to prosecutors, Lopez developed a plan “to hire someone to murder the rival in a retaliatory shooting.” Per a release from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Malik Facey offered on June 22, 2019, to carry out the murder for Lopez for between $1,000 and $2,000.
Prosecutors say that on July 12, 2019, Lopez and his associates met on the Lower East Side to plan the murder of their rival. Early the next day, Facey met with others involved in the plot at 20 Avenue D; at approximately 2:40 am there, Facey fired shots towards 35-year-old James Weeks, an innocent bystander. Weeks, rather than the rival Lopez had allegedly conspired to kill, was shot dead.
In court on Thursday, Weeks’ brother gave a victim impact statement, saying that Lopez felt no remorse for setting up the fatal shooting. The brother held up print-outs from Lopez’s Instagram that showed him smiling from his cell on Riker’s Island. The prosecution read an impact statement from Weeks’ wife, Jessica Santos, who said she and their children had suffered through years of trauma in the wake of her husband’s murder.
Lopez, wearing an orange prison-issue jumpsuit and so surrounded by police officers that he was nearly invisible from the gallery, addressed the court on Thursday. He did not accept responsibility but expressed contrition for the killing, saying he was “sorry for what happened” to Weeks.
At the sentencing, Judge Robert Mandelbaum underscored a contrasting image, describing video footage taken shortly after the killing that showed Lopez and his friends “yukking it up” and “happy as clams” despite having murdered an innocent bystander. Judge Mandelbaum noted how Lopez’s in-court behavior during the course of the trial was at-times unruly; at one point, the judge said, Lopez punched through a window at the courthouse, smashing a barrier of reinforced glass.
Facey, 25, who prosecutors say fired the shot that killed Weeks, was convicted of murder, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a weapon on Dec. 13, 2024, and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 4.
On Thursday, Judge Mandelbaum gave Lopez a sentence of 25 to life for first-degree murder and a consecutive sentence of three and a half to seven years for second-degree criminal solicitation. The sentences for Lopez’s weapons charges and conspiracy charge are to run concurrently.
“Anthony Lopez went to great lengths to seek retribution and bloodshed, and his fixation ultimately led to the death of a completely innocent man,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. in a press release. “I hope the significant state prison term that Lopez will serve gives Mr. Weeks’s family a sense of justice and peace. Combatting gun violence continues to be my top priority, and we are laser-focused on shootings involving retribution and retaliation.”
Lopez’s anti-Supreme antics were referenced multiple times in court on Thursday. His public defender described YM Bape, who roamed SoHo confronting people in Supreme, as a “bigger than life” persona adopted by Lopez. As he was escorted out by a cadre of officers after his sentencing, Lopez acknowledged his family members in the courtroom and signed off with his slogan: “Fuck Supreme.”
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