DJ Big Mike Arrested for Music Piracy

After a two-year investigation that included hours of surveillance team work and search warrants on three separate homes, two Connecticut brothers have been arrested on music piracy charges, one of which being famed mixtape personality, DJ Big Mike.

According to the Newtown Patch, Michael Wilcox, 33, of Danbury, Connecticut and half-brother Stephen Sabato, 21, of Sandy Hook, Connecticut were arrested last week, with arrests of affiliated individuals expected to follow.

In just one Danbury home, search warrants reportedly uncovered “about 3,500 disks suspected of containing pirated music and inserts to make about 40,000 items,” including songs by Lil Wayne, Mya, The-Dream, G-Unit and other Universal artists.
Titles of the confiscated CDs included “Blue Label That was my joint,” “Hard Knock Life,” “New York Struggle,” R&B Jump Off 50,” “Red Apples Falling” and “Trapaholics.”

The investigation began in February of 2009, when three investigators from the Recording Industry Association of America initiated surveillance of a suspected “burner lab” in Danbury that was making and distributing pirated CDs.

Sabato and Wilcox are both set to appear in court within the next week. —Lauren Carter