40 charged in Latin Kings drug bust
FBI agents and police arrested dozens of alleged members and associates of the Latin Kings on Wednesday in what prosecutors described as a crackdown designed to cripple the large, violent street gang.
Thirty alleged members and associates of a gang faction prosecutors said was involved in drugs, home invasions and murder were in custody late Wednesday with 10 others, including an alleged key leader, the targets of a federal manhunt.
"My message to the Latin Kings is, this investigation is called Operation Nightmare but for those arrested today it's Operation Jail," Robert D. Grant, special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago office, said at a news conference.
Twenty-five of the 29 federal defendants were charged in a 223-page complaint with taking part in a large-scale cocaine-selling conspiracy.
Eleven of the defendants faced state charges.
As a key part of Operation Nightmare, FBI agents sprang a stunning surprise on gang leaders who had appointed a trusted, 15-year Latin Kings member as an enforcer to make sure no one came to meetings with hidden recording equipment.
But the enforcer himself was an cooperating witness who secretly recorded high-ranking gang members planning drug sales, prosecutors said.
"The person they assigned to make sure no one wore a wire wore a wire himself," said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Federal officials said they had joined with Chicago police to target the Latin Kings because the gang is one of the biggest and most violent in the city.
Among those still being sought by federal agents was Vicente Garcia, 30, of suburban Bolingbrook, who was described as the "regional officer" who headed the gang in the Little Village area of the West Side and surrounding neighborhoods.
Garcia allegedly gave orders to 24 "Incas" who headed the street crews that sold the drugs. Garcia's attorney's name was not immediately known.
The arrests were the second federal law enforcement operation in as many weeks to focus on the predominantly Latino Little Village neighborhood.
Last week, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made arrests in Little Village in a move to break up an operation that sold bogus drivers licenses, Social Security cards and "green cards" for resident aliens.
It was the second bogus documents sweep in 17 months and left grumbling in Little Village, where many residents believe U.S. immigration laws are unfair.
Fitzgerald, however, rejected any criticism that the government is targeting immigrants. He noted that federal prosecutors not long ago wrapped up an eight-year investigation of state employees who swapped real drivers licenses for bribes that ended with former Gov. George Ryan sentenced to 6ˆ½ years in prison.
"No one told us we were picking on people who worked for the government," Fitzgerald said at the news conference. As for attacking a violent street gang, he said, "This has nothing to do with picking on the community -- this has something to do with protecting the community."