The primary time that MBox ever went dashing round Instances Sq. in New York Metropolis, he didn’t comprehend it was going to alter his life.
He had slipped into the automotive of his pal, a driver recognized 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 digital camera, Squeeze’s BMW, and the shared want to “go viral.”
The video they ended up filming that evening reveals them working pink 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 seen greater than 11 million instances. It appeared their model was on the rise—at the very least, till the New York Police Division acquired 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 Put up 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 Massive Apple just like the Indy 500,” Daughtry claimed.
There’s only one downside: MBox swears the New York Police Division implicated the improper man as Squeeze.
“I don’t even wish 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 pal” and interpreter, alleges to me by way of a Discord voice name. (MBox, like different YouTubers WIRED interviewed for this story, declined to provide any figuring out particulars.) “The true Squeeze is correct subsequent to me—he hasn’t been publicly recognized.”
It could be simple to jot down this all off as bravado from a bunch of high-speed clout-chasers, apart 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 autos—one purportedly being pushed by Squeeze—drifting and doing donuts within the heart of Columbus Circle and Instances Sq., surrounded by pedestrians they narrowly missed hitting with their convoy of automobiles.
It’s one in all 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 unlimited fanbase of automotive fanatics and adrenaline junkies—and set the scene for YouTube’s riskiest new area of interest: “swimmers” who weave by means of visitors at breakneck speeds.
The pattern, partly pushed by the lure of web clout and social media fame, has grow to be a focus for the NYPD, who appear decided to stamp out the follow. Now, the drivers swear they’ve plans to go legit—earlier than they get arrested, or worse.
