CRACK AND POT OR COGNAC AND UGLY WOMEN?

I think Layne’s liar – oops, I mean lawyer – is trying to pull a fast one. I’ll take the narcotics officer’s word in this case over a lying lawyer. Ghetto gang bangers drinking cognac – what a bunch of supreme shit! Beer and wine for sure, Jack Daniel’s maybe, cognac never.

DO YOU DRINK ‘YAK’ OR SMOKE IT? NEW YORK JURY GETS A LESSON IN HARLEM SLANG DURING GANG TRIAL

Mail Online
September 29, 2011

Depending on who you speak to, Jaquan 'Jay Cash' Layne either has a love of crack cocaine and marijuana... or cognac and ugly ladies.

A New York court case descended into farce yesterday, after a police narcotics expert clashed with a street-wise defense attorney over the meaning of words 'yak' and 'scud'.

Both words were used in a surveillance recording of 20-year-old Layne, who is accused of being the head of notorious Harlem gang Goons On Deck.

He and four other members of the 137th Street gang are facing charges relating to drug dealing and weapons offenses.

Layne, already in prison on other convictions, was recorded talking to associates from a payphone in Rikers prison.

It was during these conversation that Layne used slang terms, and the meanings of these terms led to the bizarre and amusing sparring match between Detective Alfred Hernandez, of the NYPD drug enforcement task force, and Layne's lawyer Frank Rothman.

Detective Hernandez told the court that 'yak' was a rhyming code for crack cocaine, while 'scud' referred to marijuana

But Mr Rothman had a far more innocent translation, saying that his client was merely referring to alcohol and women.

Mr Rothman said that, in Layne's world, 'yak' was a contraction of cognac. He added that 'scud' referred to 'a female who appears to be attractive from a distance but who isn't, close up'.

At one point, Mr Rothman seemed to suggest Detective Hernandez was behind the times by asking: 'You've never heard of sipping yak?'

The detective replied: No sir. I've heard of somebody yacking, as in throwing up.'

While Mr Rothman insists that the imprisoned Layne was unable to co-ordinate the gang's operations, prosecutors claim the recordings prove he directed his crew and advised his girlfriend, Afrika Owes, on where to deliver firearms.

Owes, a 17-year-old 'choir girl' who attended a $44,000-a-year school, hit the headlines in February this year after being convicted of conspiracy and weapons possession.

During her trial prosecutors claimed that Owes regularly carried Layne's loaded handgun, at one time complaining that it was ‘too heavy’.