By Caleb Campos –
Behind the prank videos that got him 5M followers on IG and hundreds of thousands of dollars, Boonk Gang was hurting.
“I had so much trauma and brokenness on the inside that the world didn’t know about,” he says. “That outward was just a reflection of what’s inside.”
Only 20 years old, Boonk Gang was a sensation, filming himself stealing things from people and stores. He would run away and laugh. He also destroyed things at stores. People were eating up his crazy antics online.
Eventually, the reckless behavior landed him in jail – hit and run, three gun charges, and a possession of narcotics – where he found Jesus from a cellmate who shared the Gospel. He changed his nickname to Holy Gabbana.
Boonk Gang was born John Hill in Jacksonville, Florida. His father was always in jail or with other women, so his mom took him, remarried and had five other children. It wasn’t easy being the stepson, but Stepdad did the best. Then Stepdad died too, when John was 14.
“After he passed away it was just my mother. She was working and she was really isolated,” Boonk remembers. “I was left navigating my teenage years primarily on my own.”
He decided to become a millionaire imitating an influencer who posted wild pranks.
“I seen (sic) him reckless on the internet flashing a lot of money,” Boonk says. “I’m like dang if that’s all you have to do is just be a fool to get money? I took that, put my spin on it and just blew up.”
He robbed a man’s phone and ran away. He walked out of restaurants without paying, laughing as the waitress demanded he cover his bill. He knocked over Christmas trees at the store. He stole a puppy, a watch. What didn’t he steal live on IG?
The internet fame meant Boonk (named by his mother after a blunt laced with cocaine) got paid handsomely.
Smashing and grabbing caught up with him. In jail at age 22, he wondered how he would get his account back.
With nothing else to do, he listened to his cellmate: “Do you believe in Jesus?”
“Yes sir, I do believe in Jesus,” he responded. “Tell me more about him.”
The cellie told him all about salvation, scripture, God, Heaven and Hell.
“He was showing me the love of God, and my heart began to transform,” Boonk says. “I’ve done so much wrong in my life. I’ve caused so much hurt and pain to people.”
As he learned about the Bible, he became aware of sin. He cried out to God. Suddenly, his sadness turned into joy as the Holy Spirit descended on him.
When he got released from jail, God confirmed his salvation experience through a close friend’s near death experience. His friend was pronounced dead by medical personnel. When he came back to life, he told him: “John, it’s real.”
He no longer wanted to be known as Boonk. He changed his name to Holy Gabbana and has been saved since 2021.
“It doesn’t matter about our race, our background. God loves us; he has a plan for us,” John says. “His plan is greater than the plans we have for ourselves. At 20 years old, I said that I’m a million dollar man. The path that God has laid out for me has brought me way more fulfillment than the path I was on seven years ago.”
He now evangelizes and talks wherever invited. He’s spoken to prisoners, for example. He does Christian rap.
“Today I’m a Christian because I’ve experienced the love of God,” he says.
Sources: CBN, others.
