Crime & Safety

Regional Police Report: 40 Gang Members Charged in Drug Case

This post was written by Associate Regional Editor Brian Slupski.

Des Plaines

40 Gang Members Charged in Drug Case

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez announced charges against more than 40 leaders and key players in the West-Side Chicago "Black Souls" street gang.  

Suburban law enforcement officials have said in the past that gang drug sales in Maine Township and the Niles-Des Plaines area are linked to West-Side Chicago gangs. 

This was the first time the state's attorney's office used Illinois RICO law, passed a year ago, to charge top-tier players in what it called a violent street gang. Alvarez had said in the past the law would be a powerful new legal tool. 

RICO-related charges were brought against 23 of the defendants.

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“Operation 40 Cal” targeted top gang leadership as well as key members, gang enforcers and gang supervisors who have been operating an open-air, 24-hour-a-day criminal drug enterprise with the primary street sales spots for both cocaine and heroin located in a two by three block radius in the vicinity of Madison and Pulaski. 

Selling primarily small packets of heroin in hand-to-hand transactions with drive-by customers, law enforcement authorities estimate that the operation could have been taking in as much as $11 million annually in cash proceeds.

Find out what's happening in Libertyvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Highland Park

Man Gets 12 Years for Denny's Parking Lot Rape

A Waukegan man who was found guilty in February of a sexually assaulting a disabled Evanston woman in the parking lot of the Highland Park Denny's has been sentenced.

Nsoni Mpulamasaka, 27, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and will be turned over to the Attorney General for deportation proceedings after he has served his time, reported the Lake County News-Sun.

Defense attorneys had argued the June 16, 2011, encounter in the victim's car after she and Mpulamasaka spent the night performing karaoke at the Lantern in Lake Forest was consensual, Patch reported.

Following the assault, the woman drove herself to Evanston Hospital, where she was treated for injuries, according to the Highland Park Police. Mpulamasaka, a native of Zambia, was in the United States on a student visa to study medicine, reported Patch.

Barrington


Man Stole at Least $100,000 From School District
 

A former Barrington 220 maintenance worker has pleaded guilty to stealing at least $100,000 from the school district, the Daily Herald reports. 

William G. Schwartz, of Burlington, Wis. was arrested in December of 2010 for falsely billing District 220 for maintenance repair parts.

Police say he was billing the district through two fake vendors and walked away with between $100,000 and $500,000. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

Evanston

Charges Filed After Shooting Near High School

Police arrested a 21-year-old Evanston man whom they say fired a gun after two people got into a dispute across the street from Evanston Township High School June 11.

Terrance J. Gun, 21, a convicted felon and resident of the 100 block of Custer Street, is charged with unlawful use of weapons by a felon and unlawful possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, both felonies, according to a press release from the police department.

He also is charged with possession of a firearm without a valid firearm owner’s ID and possession of firearm ammunition without a valid firearm owner’s ID, both misdemeanors.


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