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Aurora gang member resentenced for 1990 murder conviction

An Aurora street gang member has been resentenced for his role in a 1990 murder.

Michael A. Luciano, 44, of Mesa, Arizona, and formerly of Aurora was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison for the 1990 murder of 24-year-old Albert Gonzalez of Aurora.

Luciano was convicted of first-degree murder Nov. 7, 2008. In January 2009, he received a life sentence, which was mandatory at the time because he had previously been convicted of the June 29, 1989, murder of 20-year-old Willie Arce of Aurora, for which was he was sentenced to 38 years.

However, Luciano was under 18 at the time of both murders, so when the Supreme Court in 2012 ruled it unconstitutional to give mandatory life sentences to minors, Luciano's cases were returned to the trial court for resentencing. Associate Judge Linda Abrahamson ordered the new sentence Wednesday.

The 38-year sentence for Arce's murder stands, making Luciano's combined sentences 88 years. According to Illinois law, both prison sentences must be served consecutively. He will receive credit for time served in prison and the Kane County jail.

At 7:20 p.m., Oct. 31, 1990, Albert Gonzalez was shot to death through a window in his home in the 300 block of Grove Street. The shots were fired from a hillside adjacent to railroad tracks across the street. Two other people in the house were also shot, but survived.

Luciano and his father, gang leader Angel "Doc" Luciano, ordered the shooting, handed out the murder weapons beforehand and collected them afterward, according to a news release from the Kane County state's attorney's office.

Two others were also convicted and sentenced in connection with Gonzalez's murder.

Both cases were part of a cold-case sweep indicted by a special grand jury in June 2007. Dozens of gang members and former gang members were indicted in nearly two dozen cold-case murders following investigations by the Aurora Police Department and the FBI.

"Michael Luciano was a leader in a violent street gang at a time when street gangs notoriously kept the citizens of the city of Aurora on edge," Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said. "Despite his young age, he was a violent criminal who murdered two people."

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