YouTuber ‘Famous Richard’ arrested on robbery charge by alert Port Authority cop
A social media prankster with a penchant for taunting the NYPD picked on the wrong cop — and ended up in handcuffs on an attempted robbery rap.
Aspiring comedian and drill rapper Richard Sharp, 24, who goes by “Famous Richard” online, allegedly tried to shoot video of a Port Authority Police officer Friday when the alert cop recognized him as a wanted man from an earlier robbery attempt in Manhattan — and slapped on the cuffs.
“A YouTuber who films his antagonistic interactions with police officers approached Port Authority Police Officer Bradley DeSalvo in the 8th Avenue entrance of the Port Authority Bus Terminal,” wrote the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association union on Instagram.
“As the YouTuber was about to begin his act with a cohort filming, PO DeSalvo had a different trick up his sleeve,” the post said.
“It’s not clear if his cameraman captured the arrest on film, but he can rest assured the PAPD did. Isn’t it ironic?”
Sharp was wanted for an incident at a smoke shop on Broadway, in which he allegedly got into a dispute with employees “over the price of the property” shortly after 4 p.m. on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint filed by Manhattan prosecutors,
He then allegedly unzipped his black coat and flashed what appeared to be a gun before leaving the store, the complaint states.
Court records show Sharp pleaded not guilty to a first-degree attempted robbery charge at his arraignment Friday, and was released without bail.
Sharp, a self-proclaimed member of Chicago’s Black Disciples street gang, has long taunted cops in social media videos, at times pointing fingers in cops’ faces and even trying to reach for their guns.
“That’s a real Glock on your hip?” he asked one cop. “Let me hold that mother f—-er.”
In several clips, Sharp calls cops on patrol “shorty” as he teases them, and makes repeated references to “King David” — a shout-out to Black Disciples founder David Barksdale.
In April, he posted on X as he berated and ridiculed an Asian-American cop in Times Square.
“Get back, Bruce Lee-looking man,” he’s heard telling the officer. “On King David, you’re acting like Bruce Lee, shorty. Stop playing me, shorty before I do that to your ass.”
The pesky clown didn’t go unnoticed by New York’s Finest, who issued an alert that he had been trying to snatch guns from officers on patrol during the spring.
“Ya’ll not gonna catch me,” Sharp shot back on TikTok. “I don’t know why ya’ll posting this. Ya’ll not catching me. I’m gonna be in Mexico somewhere on King David.”
In May, cops charged him with obstruction, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in Queens.
He was later released, but not before law enforcement sources said he cried like a baby while behind bars.
Sharp is due back in court in February in the attempted robbery case.
