Cuban rapper Chocolate MC was found guilty of plotting a murder-for-hire against the man accused of killing his close friend, El Taiger.
Yosvanis Sierra Hernández saw his fate sealed Wednesday in a Miami courtroom after a jury found the Cuban rapper guilty of soliciting a murder-for-hire plot aimed at the man accused of killing his longtime friend and fellow Hip-Hop artist El Taiger.
Known in the music world as Chocolate MC, Sierra Hernández was convicted on charges of soliciting first-degree murder and issuing written threats to kill or cause bodily harm.
Prosecutors said the rapper tried to recruit inmates at Miami-Dade correctional facilities to kill Damián Valdés Galloso, who is facing first-degree murder charges in the October 2024 shooting death of El Taiger, born José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar.
The six-person jury returned the verdict after less than two hours of deliberation, capping off a trial that featured emotional testimony, social media evidence and a rap song that prosecutors claimed doubled as a call to violence.
According to the state, Sierra Hernández used Instagram to offer $20,000 and a year’s worth of commissary to anyone willing to kill Galloso. One of the key pieces of evidence was a track titled “Pincha Lo,” which prosecutors translated as “stab him.”
On the witness stand, Sierra Hernández broke down while describing his friendship with El Taiger, which he said began in their teenage years. Speaking through a translator, he told the jury: “Maybe at one point I did not express myself the right way, or the way I should have. But I’m not capable of killing anyone.”
At one point during the trial, he held up a yellow notepad that read “Dios conmigo, ¿quién contra mí?” or “God is with me, so who could be against me?”
As the guilty verdict was read aloud, his girlfriend, Yelena, wept in the courtroom and said in Spanish: “They said he’s guilty, but it’s an injustice. He didn’t kill anyone. He’s not a killer.”
Sierra Hernández has reportedly been in custody at Metro West Detention Center since June, following a separate incident in Opa-locka where he allegedly pulled a gun on a man who asked for a photo and then fled the scene.
The murder-for-hire conviction carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
