The primary time that MBox ever went dashing round Instances Sq. in New York Metropolis, he didn’t understand it was going to vary his life.
He had slipped into the automotive of his buddy, a driver identified on-line as Squeeze or Squeeze.benz, who MBox says was 21 years previous—and set off for a drive within the early hours of the morning. The duo was armed with nothing however a digicam, Squeeze’s BMW, and the shared want to “go viral.”
The video they ended up filming that evening reveals them operating crimson lights, narrowly avoiding scrapes with different automobiles, doing donuts at intersections, and even driving backward up a one-way avenue, all at excessive speeds. After being posted to YouTube final yr, the footage was considered greater than 11 million occasions. It appeared their model was on the rise—not less than, till the New York Police Division obtained concerned.
On Might 21, the division’s deputy commissioner of operations, Kaz Daughtry, proudly posted on X that the NYPD had “Squeeze.benz” in custody. Authorities cited his reckless driving, together with outracing police. However when the NYPD charged Antonio Ginestri, 19 on the time and linked to the social media account in a New York Publish report, the offense was third diploma assault, which legislation enforcement mentioned stemmed from an unrelated incident a number of months prior. “One of the crucial prolific avenue racers in NYC can not deal with the Large Apple just like the Indy 500,” Daughtry claimed.
There’s only one drawback: MBox swears the New York Police Division implicated the incorrect man as Squeeze.
“I don’t even need to get an excessive amount of into that, however that was anyone else. They don’t have the actual Squeeze,” MBox, an up-and-coming rapper in his mid-20s who claims to be Squeeze’s “greatest buddy” and interpreter, alleges to me through a Discord voice name. (MBox, like different YouTubers WIRED interviewed for this story, declined to present any figuring out particulars.) “The true Squeeze is correct subsequent to me—he hasn’t been publicly recognized.”
It will be simple to jot down this all off as bravado from a bunch of high-speed clout-chasers, aside from one factor: In September, greater than three months after Ginestri’s arrest, whereas he was nonetheless in custody, a brand new video appeared on the Squeeze.Benz YouTube channel. It confirmed footage of a number of automobiles—one purportedly being pushed by Squeeze—drifting and doing donuts within the middle of Columbus Circle and Instances Sq., surrounded by pedestrians they narrowly missed hitting with their convoy of automobiles.
It’s considered one of a barrage of clips uploaded to the channel, which has greater than 735,000 subscribers and options video after video of high-speed, palm-sweat-inducing jaunts round New York Metropolis. Collectively, MBox and Squeeze have amassed an infinite fanbase of automotive lovers and adrenaline junkies—and set the scene for YouTube’s riskiest new area of interest: “swimmers” who weave by way of site visitors at breakneck speeds.
The development, partly pushed by the lure of web clout and social media fame, has turn out to be a focus for the NYPD, who appear decided to stamp out the apply. Now, the drivers swear they’ve plans to go legit—earlier than they get arrested, or worse.
