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07/31/2013 -- Gang members invited to summit designed to end the violence
"Hundreds of gang members will be invited to a summit in Chicago in an attempt to broker peace in the bloodiest neighborhoods — 20 years after “gang summits” here and in other states drew national attention, organizers said Wednesday.
The Rev. Gregory Tatum, a California pastor with Chicago roots, said he hopes the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton will attend the Sept. 27-28 summit. Jackson spoke at a gang summit two decades ago in Chicago, delivering a message to gang members that they were the 'new frontier of the civil rights struggle.'"
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07/17/2013 -- School closings mean students must traverse new gang landscape, prof testifies
"Chicago Public Schools’ decision to close 49 elementary schools makes it 'more likely that a child will be shot and killed,' a professor who has studied gang culture for 30 years testified in federal court Wednesday. University of Illinois at Chicago Professor John Hagedorn warned that the planned closures are “already having an effect” on student safety, because gangs are taunting their rivals on Facebook that they “better not come into our neighborhood” when transferring students are forced to cross gang boundaries to attend new schools.
On Wednesday, the second day of a four-day hearing, Hagedorn told Judge John Lee that today’s gang violence is carried out between small neighborhood factions and is 'spontaneous and unpredictable,' making it harder to protect children than it was in the past. Hagedorn displayed gang maps, showing how students would have to cross gang boundaries to get to their new schools and arguing that CPS doesn’t have an effective safety plan in place. For example, he said, children transferred from Pope Elementary to Johnson Elementary in North Lawndale will 'literally be walking down a line of fire' on Albany Avenue, where the New Breeds have clashed with rival gangs.
CPS’ 'Safe Passage' program, which pays community groups to chaperone children, won’t 'protect them from bullets,' he added."
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07/08/2013 -- Quinn Signs Gang-Related Laws After Deadly Weekend
"A deadly weekend in Chicago has pushed law makers to take action. Monday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed two laws designed to fight gang-related crime. One establishes a witness protection program for those who help prosecute gang members. Quinn says he hopes will this will encourage people to speak up.
'We will not have silence about violence, we will gather together as a community, as a faith community, as the state of Illinois with 13 million people strong to make sure we protect the people,' Quinn said.
The other law requires school officials to report illegal weapons and gang activity to police and for police to report similar information to the schools."
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07/08/2013 -- Chicago Shootings: 12 Killed, At Least 62 Wounded In Gun Violence Over Long Holiday Weekend
"A dozen people were killed and at least 62 wounded in gun violence that rang out across Chicago over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. From Wednesday afternoon through Sunday evening, 12 people were killed in shootings in Chicago and at least 62 others were wounded by gun violence, according to the Tribune. The numbers vary slightly from media outlet to media outlet depending on when their weekend violence tally began and whether it included police-involved shootings."
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06/26/2013 -- Elgin Sues Maniac Latin Disciples Under State Anti-Gang Law
"One suburban Chicago community is taking a street gang to court — not to criminal court, as is the standard practice nationwide — but to civil court. The city of Elgin, in a lawsuit recently filed on its behalf by the Kane County prosecutor, is seeking an injunction that would bar 25 reputed members of the Maniac Latin Disciples from associating with each other.
The 38-page suit also asks a judge to prohibit members from engaging in a lengthy list of other activities, from showing gang hand signs and carrying spray-paint cans to wearing hats emblazoned with the letter 'D'. The suit also seeks unspecified monetary damages for the gang’s past illegal activities."
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06/13/2013 -- Cops Nab First Chicago Gang Members Under RICO Law
"Authorities early Thursday morning rounded up more than 40 leaders and senior members of Chicago's 'Black Souls' street gang in a first-of-its-kind sweep conducted under Illinois' new RICO statute. The takedown targeted open-air drug markets around the intersection of West Madison Avenue and South Pulaski Road, in Chicago's West Garfield Park neighborhood. Authorities said the operation may have netted as much as $11 million a year. Of the 41 arrested so far, 23 will be charged under the Street Gang Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations — also known as RICO — statute.
'This new tool allows us to, instead of just charging the individual with maybe one shooting, we're able to target these gang leaders and the entire gang itself,' said Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez."
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06/10/2013 -- 18 Arrested in Chicago Area During Operation Targeting Gang Members
"Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested 18 gang members and associates during a three-day operation this week. This is the latest local effort in an ongoing national HSI initiative to target transnational gang members. HSI agents conducted the operation, which concluded Tuesday, in Chicago, Cicero and Berwyn. All 18 men are documented members or associates of the following transnational street gangs: Latin Kings, Two-Six Boys, Two-Two Boys, Ambrose, Sureños 13, and the Bishops."
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06/08/2013 -- Troubling new details arise over informant’s murder
"The feds called him a 'cooperating source.' But the drug dealers, gun runners and murderers he was cooperating against have a harsher word for folks like Keith Daniels.
'Snitch.'
And on April 14, snitching likely cost the 27-year-old his life. Gunned down outside his Dolton home, allegedly by a parolee in front of his terrified girlfriend and child, Daniels was killed for his role in the front line of Chicago’s war against gangs, authorities said."
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05/29/2013 -- Durbin, Kirk Want Top Prosecutor Nominee To ‘Crush’ Street Gangs
"U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk met today with Zachary Fardon, the nominee to be the next U.S. Attorney in Chicago, and told him they’d like to see him focus on street gangs and gun violence. Durbin said the next top prosecutor in Chicago can play a critical role in tackling violence on the streets.
'We are appalled at the reporting of these horrific crimes that are taking place in this area,' Durbin said. 'The reason for our meeting today was to emphasize – first and foremost – the need for this U.S Attorney’s office to coordinate efforts to stop the violent crime and murder.'
Kirk said he’d like to see federal prosecutors to use racketeering statutes to target the Gangster Disciples, because the two young
men charged with killing honor student Hadiya Pendleton are purported Gangster Disciples. 'It’s payback for Hadiya Pendleton’s death,' Kirk said."
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05/16/2013 -- Feds Make Arrests In ‘Heroin Hotline’ Case
"Seven men and one woman are facing federal drug charges in connection with an investigation that targeted heroin trafficking on the Near West Side. The charges and the arrests of five of the defendants in the investigation dubbed Operation Heroin Hotline were announced Thursday by the Chicago FBI office, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago, and the Chicago Police Department.
The five defendants taken into custody were arrested without incident Thursday morning at various locations in the Chicago area by members of the FBI’s Safe Streets Gang Task Force and CPD officers, a release from the FBI’s Chicago office said. One defendant was already in state custody on unrelated charges. Two defendants were not located today and remain at large."
04/28/2013 -- State lawmakers want beefed up witness protection for gang-related crimes
"State lawmakers are considering legislation that encourages witnesses to cooperate more with police. The bill that already passed the House would provide more funding to protect, and in some cases, relocate witnesses of gang-related crimes. Illinois State Representative Chris Welch (7th district) sponsored the bill. Welch said a better witness protection program would help break the code of silence that exists in some communities.
'In the Chicagoland area we had over 500 murders last year... many of those were gang related,' Welch said. 'We have to make getting rid of gang violence in our community a priority.' Law enforcement officials say their investigations are often hampered by witnesses who are reluctant to testify. Yet some programs designed to coax them into working with prosecutors can barely keep up with demand."
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04/05/2013 -- Feds Charge 18 Black Disciples With Gun, Drug Violations
"Eighteen members of the Black Disciples gang were charged with federal gun and drug violations, the FBI said Friday. Sixteen defendants were arrested Thursday, one was apprehended Friday and another is still on the loose, as FBI agents cracked down on drug and gun trafficking in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood. The agency's Safe Streets Gang Task Force worked with Chicago police to arrest 12 suspects; two were found in Wisconsin, one in Iowa and two others in Indiana.
Sixteen men were charged with possession of a controlled substance, including crack cocaine and heroin, or with federal gun violations. Two others were charged in federal court in Hammond, Ind., with distribution of a controlled substance or a firearms violations."
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03/12/3013 -- Suspected founder of Holland Latin Kings faces federal charges, detention hearing
"Eric Ruibal, a suspected founding leader of Holland Latin Kings, is expected in federal court here Wednesday, March 13, for a detention hearing after his arrest in Phoenix. Ruibal, an alleged liaison between Holland Latin Kings and gang leadership in Chicago Heights, is one of the last of 31 suspects to appear in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids after a 76-page indictment was unsealed last month, records and testimony show."
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03/07/2013 -- Evanston Police report increase in gang-related graffiti
"Vandals have caused a dramatic increase in Evanston graffiti during the last three weeks, almost all of it gang-related. Daily crime reports from the Evanston Police Department show 12 incidents of gang-related graffiti since Feb. 18. Police have also arrested one Evanston man in connection with criminal defacement. EPD found three incidents of graffiti from the night of Feb. 20 and at least seven additional instances since then. Graffiti from the past two weeks marked the first gang graffiti of the year. Concentrated incidents of graffiti are typical for Evanston, city graffiti technician Karlton Mims said. He estimated that graffiti sprees break out two or three times a year in various areas of the city. Much of the recent graffiti has stemmed from a conflict between two local Latino gangs, EPD Cmdr. Jay Parrott said."
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03/03/2013 -- Chicago Police Arrest 38 Suspected Gang Members In Culmination Of Major South Side Drug Busts
"Chicago police busted up two South Side drug operations and arrested 38 suspected gang members to close out a pair of targeted missions earlier this week. 'Dismantling drug markets is critical to decreasing gang violence and criminal activity in our communities,' said Police Supt. Garry McCarthy in a statement released Saturday. 'We improve the quality of life in our City by taking down these drug markets and removing the involved criminals, weapons, and narcotics from the streets.'"
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02/27/2013 -- Authorities: 20 years for high-ranking 'Terror Town' gangster
"A self-admitted 'general' of a Chicago street gang that operates in a South Side neighborhood he and his associates refer to as 'Terror Town' was sentenced today to 20 years in federal prison for drug and gun crimes, according to federal authorities. Gilbert Spiller is a high-ranking member of the Black P Stone Nation street gang and has criminal convictions spanning two decades, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Spiller, 37, whose last address was in the 2300 block of East 70th Street was arrested by the FBI and Chicago police in October 2011 and pleaded guilty in September 2012 to two counts of selling crack cocaine and one count of illegally selling a firearm, the statement said."
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01/20/2013 -- Peoria man charged in connection with 2009 gang-initiation slaying in Chicago
"A Peoria man has been charged with murder for his role in a 2009 Chicago killing that was allegedly orchestrated as part of an initiation ritual into the Latin Kings street gang. According to Chicago Police, Jesus Zuniga, 28, faces one count of first-degree murder, though his role in the shooting death of 24-year-old Carlton Ewing on the Southeast Side is unclear. Zuniga’s role “was sufficient for the state’s attorney to approve murder charges,” said police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien."
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01/11/2013 -- Former Chicago cop gets 19 years in Latin Kings case
"A former veteran Chicago police officer was sentenced to 19 years in prison Friday for stealing drugs, cash and guns for the Latin Kings street gang often while on-duty. Alex Guerrero, 42, faced up to life in prison, but Rudy Lozano, a U.S. District judge in Hammond, agreed to the 19-year term after prosecutors spoke of the former officer’s extensive cooperation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick said Guerrero, a former tactical officer, has been assisting the FBI in several investigations."
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12/08/2012 -- Police Nab Teen with Gun at Gang Funeral
"As Mayor Rahm Emanuel seeks to crack down on violence at gang funerals, Chicago police arrested a 17-year-old boy on felony gun charges after he attended the funeral of a gang member Saturday. Roosevelt J. Yarber, of the 4100 block of West Van Buren Street, was arrested after leaving services for a known member of the Gangster Disciples at Miracle Temple Church, 4645 W. Madison St., in West Garfield Park."
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