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CCC In the News

 

11/17/2016 -- Chicago Crime Commission honors outstanding crime fighters
"CHICAGO, Nov. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Chicago Crime Commission held its Stars of Distinction, 2016 Awards Dinner to recognize outstanding individual and organizational contributions in fighting crime.  Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson was the keynote speaker at the event. 

The program featured eight awards presented to individuals and the organizations they serve in recognition of their outstanding work in law enforcement.  The recipients of the Stars of Distinction awards exemplify the commitment of all law enforcement in their efforts to fight crime in Chicago."

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05/04/2016 -- Crime Commission Expresses Concerns Over Fantasy Sports Betting Bill

"
CHICAGO (CBS) — The Chicago Crime Commission has serious concerns about legislation advancing in Springfield to legalize and regulate the fantasy sports betting industry.

It says the legislature needs to slow down or it is going to open fantasy sports betting to potential involvement by organized crime."

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05/04/2016 -- Advocacy group says Illinois fantasy sports bill needs work

"
CHICAGO (AP) - A law enforcement advocacy group in Chicago says safeguards in proposed Illinois legislation on fantasy sports betting aren’t good enough and could open the door to organized crime.

The Chicago Crime Commission says background-check provisions in the bill provide too many loopholes and could lead to underworld infiltration."

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01/08/2016 -- Chicago Crime Commission calls for El Chapo's immediate extradition

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CHICAGO - The Chicago Crime Commission is calling for the  extradition of Public Enemy Number One  Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman Loera to the United States. 

“The Chicago Crime Commission demands that Guzman is immediately turned over to American authorities,” said J.R. Davis, President and Chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission. “The two escapes by Guzman demonstrate that even the most ‘high security’ Mexican prisons are not equipped to hold him,” he added."

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07/14/2015 -- Crime Commission : El Chapo is Public Enemy No. 1 again

"CHICAGO (WLS) --  Days after Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison, the Chicago Crime Commission said Tuesday that they have re-declared him as public enemy No. 1 -- a title he shares only with Al Capone.

"We're not confident that he is in Mexico," said Jeff Johnson, board director of the Chicago Crime Commission. "He could be elsewhere. He could be in Columbia."

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05/12/2015 -- DEA's top cop shares strategies to combat drug trafficking in Chicago

"
CHICAGO, May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Chicago Crime Commission welcomed Dennis Wichern, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge (SAC) for the Chicago Field Division, as its guest speaker at their annual spring luncheon.  Wichern was appointed SAC of the Chicago Field Division in January 2015, succeeding Jack Riley who is now third in command at the nation's drug-fighting agency. 
 

"We are pleased that SAC Wichern has taken time out of his busy schedule to be with us," according to J.R. Davis, President and Chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission. "We are excited to hear him discuss the strategies needed for combating drug trafficking in Chicago," he said.

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02/22/2015 -- From Supermax to Ceasefire
Chicago Sun Times – They were considered leaders of some of the biggest, deadliest gangs in Chicago.



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12/31/2014 -- Art Bilek Retires From Crime Commission, After 60 Years in Law Enforcement
"CHICAGO (CBS) – A Chicago man who spent six decades in law enforcement retired from the Chicago Crime Commission on Wednesday, but he’s not slowing down.

Asked to think back through his 60-year career in law enforcement and say what stood out, Art Bilek barely hesitated. "

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11/12/2014 -- K-9, prosecutor winners of crime-fighting awards

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An outgoing federal prosecutor and a police dog named Rocky are among those slated to be honored by one of Chicago's oldest anti-crime groups.The Chicago Crime Commission's presents the awards Wednesday at its annual Stars of Distinction dinner. One recipient is the retiring No. 2 in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, Gary Shapiro. He's served at the office's first assistant U.S. attorney for 17 years.

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10/18/2014 -- Unregulated Video Gambling in Illinois

"The legality of machines similar to video gambling, but aren’t subject to the same regulations, is being questioned in a new report.  The machines are called “sweepstakes machines,” and supposedly don’t fall under video gambling regulations because they don’t directly distribute cash.  Art Belik, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, disagrees, and says a dozen other states have shot down that argument in court.  “Every single one of the 12 held they were gambling machines,” Belik said."

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04/17/2014 -- Chicago Casino Plan Draws Support at Hearing
"A proposal for a state-owned Chicago casino won praise Wednesday from business groups and a warmer reception from a state regulatory board than past attempts to expand gambling, but the plan also drew criticism from downstate officials and the horse racing industry who said it would cheat them out of needed revenues and jobs.
'There are certainly improvements,' gaming board attorney Caleb Melamed told lawmakers. 'This is a significantly different piece of legislation than previous years.'
 
He voiced other concerns about the potential of saturating the market with other Chicago area casinos. He also questioned a state-run casino, a model that's unusual among other states. The Chicago Crime Commission objected to the structure, calling for an operator-owned model like other casinos and more protections against corruption. Chicago area pastors and anti-gambling groups also warned lawmakers of possible social costs on either plan, such as more people hooked on gambling."

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3/23/2014 -- Lawmakers, watchdog group to seek ban of some slotlike machines

"A bipartisan team of state lawmakers and a watchdog group said Sunday they will push for legislation this week to ban certain slotlike machines that have been cropping up in areas that don't allow video gambling in bars.

The effort has been spearheaded by an organized-crime watchdog group called the Chicago Crime Commission, which fears that the machines have opened a new gambling enterprise for Chicago's organized crime."

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03/01/2014 -- Chapo's Rise: From Poor, Abused to Cartel Kingpin

"On Valentine's Day last year, the Chicago Crime Commission held a news conference to announce a new 'Public Enemy No. 1.' It was the first such declaration since 1930, when mob boss Al Capone nabbed the label.

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, the commission said that day, was far more menacing than even Capone.

'What Al Capone was to beer and whiskey during Prohibition, Guzman is to narcotics,' said Art Bilek, the commission's executive vice president. 'Of the two, Guzman is by far the greater threat. ... And he has more power and financial capability than Capone ever dreamed of.'

Capone was captured, convicted and imprisoned within two years of his 'Public Enemy' designation. The hope, Bilek had said, was that the 'the same thing will happen" to Guzman.' "

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02/28/2014 -- Will arrest of 'El Chapo' Guzman curb Chicago drugs?

"In 2013, the Chicago Crime Commission (CCC) named Guzman the city's Public Enemy Number One, a title previously given only to mob boss Al Capone.

And now, though Guzman is behind bars, the CCC has no plans to strip that label from the man the US treasury department once called the world's most powerful drug trafficker.

'We don't know what his power potential is while he is in custody,' the group's executive vice-president Art Bilek said."

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02/26/2014 -- How drug lords copy al-Qaida

"The Chicago Crime Commission, a nonprofit civic group that's been investigating organized crime since 1919, dusted off its old 'Public Enemy No. 1' label for the first time since the days of Al Capone in the 1930s to apply it to El Chapo.

Guzman 'makes Capone look like a piker,' Art Bilek, a retired detective and the commission's executive vice president, told me in a telephone interview. 'He's the major provider of narcotics to the five-county Chicago area, not to mention some 37 other countries.' "

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02/25/2014 -- `El Chapo` charged in Mexico, remains Chicago`s Public Enemy No. 1


Executive Director Joseph C. Ways interviewed by FOX 32's Craig Wall
 
"Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is called Public Enemy #1 by the Chicago Crime Commission, for good reason.

The D-E-A estimates 80 percent of the heroin, cocaine and marijuana coming into Chicago is supplied by Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel, an enterprise blamed for tens of thousands of deaths worldwide.

'The greater majority of the street violence here in Chicago is directly fueled by the drug trade,' said Executive Director of Chicago Crime Commission Joseph Ways.' "


02/24/2014 -- "El Chapo" is Chicago's most-wanted fugitive

                                                                                        
Executive Director Joseph C. Ways interviewed with CBS Chicago's Dean Reynolds
"Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel supplies 70 to 90 percent of drugs sold in Chicago, where gang members are ready foot soldiers. Last year, the Chicago crime commission named Guzman 'Public Enemy Number One.' Dean Reynolds reports."



02/24/2014 -- Ex agente: Tienen grabado a “El Chapo”

                                                                                             
Executive Director Joseph C. Ways interviewed with Telemundo Chicago

"Al iniciarse el proceso para una posible extradición de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a Estados Unidos, el ex agente de la DEA, David Lorino, afirma que ese organismo en Chicago tiene grabaciones incriminatorias del capo mexicano.

El Enemigo Público Número 1 de Chicago ya está tras las rejas."


02/24/2014 -- Capture of Joaquín "el Chapo" Guzman

                                                                                     
Executive Director Joseph C. Ways interviewed by Chicago Tonight's Eddie Arruza

"After more than a decade on the run, notorious drug kingpin Joaquín 'el Chapo' Guzmán was captured by Mexican authorities on Saturday. Guzmán, the head of the powerful and violent Sinaloa Drug Cartel, was listed as Public Enemy #1 by the Chicago Crime Commission. The Sinaloa cartel is believed to be the main supplier of narcotics to the Chicago area. We hear from the head of the Commission on Guzmán's arrest, and the chances that he'll ever be brought to trial in Chicago where he was indicted in 2009 on numerous charges by federal authorities."


02/24/2014 -- Director of the Chicago Crime Commission praises the capture of “El Chapo”

Executive Director Joseph C. Ways interviewed by WGN's Steve Cochran

"Joseph Ways is the executive director of the Chicago Crime Commission. He joins the Steve Cochran show to discuss the arrest of Mexico’s most notorious drug lord.  Joaquin Guzman Loera, better known as 'El Chapo,' is the first person since Al Capone to earn the infamous title of 'Public Enemy #1' from the Chicago Crime Commission. Ways tells us what his arrest means for the Chicago drug market and how Guzman became the man he is."

Click here to listen to the interview.



02/24/2014 -- They got 'Shorty' -- now what? Next steps after 'El Chapo' Guzman's capture

" 'Mexico is going to want to prosecute him. They're going to want the first shot at him,' CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes said Sunday. 'The extradition to the U.S. could happen at a later date, but I doubt it. I think that the Mexicans are going to want him, and they're going to want to keep him in prison down there.'

From New York to Chicago, Texas to San Diego, Guzman and his lieutenants are named in indictments for marijuana, cocaine and heroin trafficking, as well as racketeering, money laundering, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder.

In Chicago, the city's crime commission named Guzman its Public Enemy No. 1 last year.
But more than anywhere else, Fuentes said, the "Public Enemy No. 1" designation is true for Guzman in Mexico. "He's responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. He's considered one of the richest men in the world, and the Sinaloa cartel...is considered the most prolific drug-trafficking organization in the world," said Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI's Office of International Operations."

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