Nine alleged members of a violent Chicago street gang were charged in connection to half a dozen murders and operating a sprawling drug empire on Chicago’s South and Southwest Sides, the U.S. State’s Attorney’s office announced Thursday.
The indictment, unsealed this week, also says members of the Four Corner Hustlers robbed rival drug dealers, outfitted a security detail to its members and used police scanners to stay ahead of the cops.
Labar Spann, 38; Sammie Booker, 43; Tremayne Thompson, 33; Juhwun Foster, 37; Marchello Devine, 30; Rontrell Turnipseed, 24; Keith Chatman, 29; Stevon Sims, 27; And Deandre Spann, 40; all of Chicago, are charged with racketeering conspiracy.
The victims murdered by the Four Corner Hustler members, according to the unsealed indictment, are: Carlos Caldwell on Jan. 19, 2000; Maximillion McDaniel on July 25, 2000; Levar Smith on Aug. 14, 2000; George King on April 8, 2003; Willie Woods on April 16, 2003; and Rudy Rangel on June 4, 2003.
The indictment accuses Labar Spann of participating in all six slayings, with help from at least one other member of the conspiracy in five of them.
Individual counts in the indictment charge Spann, Thompson and Foster with murdering Woods; and Spann with murdering Rangel. The charges allege that the murders carried out by Woods and Rangel were for the purpose of "maintaining and increasing position in the Four Corner Hustlers."
Labar Spann and Thompson are also charged with participating in extortion conspiracy along with Mikal Jones, 33, and Antonio Devine, 25, both of Chicago. Three other alleged members of the gang are also name in the indictment but died before they could be charged, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
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The indictment was returned Sept. 14 and ordered unsealed after several of the accused conspirators were arrested this week. The defendants have begun making initial appearances in federal court in Chicago.
The alleged gang members managed a drug operation that saw cocaine, heroin and marijuana sold in the city’s South and West sides—including the LeClair Courts housing projects and the West Garfield Park and Humbolt Park neighborhoods since the 1990s.
Authorities uncovered the alleged gang activity through a lengthy joint investigation conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, Chicago FBI’s Safe Street Task Force, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the ATF’s Chicago Crime Gun Strike Force and the Chicago Police Gang Investigations Division.
Racketeering conspiracy charges usually carry a max sentence of 20 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office says, but other illegal activities paired with the charges can make life in prison possible.
Attorney information for the accused was not immediately available.
