Fed: Without more money, office can’t do more about city violence

With its fixed budget, the current top federal prosecutor in Chicago says there’s nothing more his office can do to help stem city violence than it’s already doing.

At a Thursday news conference on a gang indictment, Gary Shapiro fielded questions about calls by some politicians for the feds to find a way to do more.

Shapiro says many observers mistakenly believe his office devotes more resources to public corruption than to drug and gun crimes underpinning city violence.

He says drug and gun cases, in fact, vastly outnumber corruption cases.

Asked if his office could do more with its frozen budget, he responded, “We can’t do more without more resources.”

Shapiro was named Chicago’s acting U.S. attorney last year. Zachary Fardon is the nominee to fill the post permanently.