Local authorities, armed with a powerful new state RICO law, said they charged dozens of leaders and senior members of a notorious West Side street gang with operating a violent, $11 million-a-year heroin and cocaine operation responsible for seven murders and untold violence since the 1990s.
In unsealing the charges Thursday, authorities said the probe began after a victim of violence at the hands of the Black Souls gang was shot to death in a daylight street attack in October after he had refused a bribe of $3,000 to drop charges against several gang leaders for his earlier beating and robbery.
Before sunrise Thursday, Chicago police gang specialists and FBI agents armed with "no knock" search warrants fanned out across the Chicago area to arrest suspects accused of being high-ranking leaders of the gang as well as "top runners" and supervisors who authorities said control its street operations. In all, 23 people were charged with racketeering conspiracy and criminal drug conspiracy in the first use of the tough new state RICO law, while 18 others face more traditional drug or weapons charges, authorities said.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said the investigation marks a game-changing approach to unraveling Chicago's seemingly intractable gang problem that is responsible for the bulk of the persistent gun violence that has brought Chicago unwanted national attention despite a drop in shootings and homicides so far this year.
"We're not just charging individual people. We're charging the entire enterprise," Alvarez said at a news conference at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
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