Beanie Sigel has been ordered to spend six months in a halfway house after the South Philly rapper admitted today in federal court that he had violated his parole on a gun possession conviction by visiting the Tropicana in Atlantic City. Federal authorities said they learned of Sigel's visit to the Tropicana through our Dec. 3 column which featured this item on Sigel:

South Philly rapper Beanie Sigel was laying major money on a craps table at Atlantic City's Tropicana over the weekend. At one point, Sigel, whose new album "The Solution" is out Dec. 11, called over a fly honey for good luck, telling her he was down, but had $12,000 left to play with. She advised he keep it real and lay down another grand. No word on whether big Beanie won back his $$$.

Imagine our surprise when A.J. Daulerio of Philadelphia magazine just called to ask us if we had just sent Beanie to a halfway house, and referred us to Inqwaster reporter John Shiffman's story, which is linked in the first paragraph of this post.

U.S. District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick ordered Sigel to spend the rest of today in the custody of U.S. Marshals. Sigel, real name Dwight Grant, is in trouble because Atlantic City is outside the area in which he can travel under the terms of his parole violation. He will likely report to a halfway house tomorrow, where he will be allowed to leave each day for work.