gang members charged with anti-terrorists laws

Look up RICO and you will understand why. :rolleyes:

Is that all you do is post the rolleyes emiticon? You must be proud of that talent.

(1) ``racketeering activity\'\' means (A) any act or threat
    involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery,
    extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled
    substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the
    Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and
    punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; ( any act which
    is indictable under any of the following provisions of title 18,
    United States Code: Section 201 (relating to bribery), section 224
    (relating to sports bribery), sections 471, 472, and 473 (relating
    to counterfeiting), section 659 (relating to theft from interstate
    shipment) if the act indictable under section 659 is felonious,
    section 664 (relating to embezzlement from pension and welfare
    funds), sections 891-894 (relating to extortionate credit
    transactions), section 1028 (relating to fraud and related activity
    in connection with identification documents), section 1029 (relating
    to fraud and related activity in connection with access devices),
    section 1084 (relating to the transmission of gambling information),
    section 1341 (relating to mail fraud), section 1343 (relating to
    wire fraud), section 1344 (relating to financial institution fraud),
    section 1425 (relating to the procurement of citizenship or
    nationalization unlawfully), section 1426 (relating to the
    reproduction of naturalization or citizenship papers), section 1427
    (relating to the sale of naturalization or citizenship papers),
    sections 1461-1465 (relating to obscene matter), section 1503
    (relating to obstruction of justice), section 1510 (relating to
    obstruction of criminal investigations), section 1511 (relating to
    the obstruction of State or local law enforcement), section 1512
    (relating to tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant),
    section 1513 (relating to retaliating against a witness, victim, or
    an informant), section 1542 (relating to false statement in
    application and use of passport), section 1543 (relating to forgery
    or false use of passport), section 1544 (relating to misuse of
    passport), section 1546 (relating to fraud and misuse of visas,
    permits, and other documents), sections 1581-1588 (relating to
    peonage and slavery), section 1951 (relating to interference with
    commerce, robbery, or extortion), section 1952 (relating to
    racketeering), section 1953 (relating to interstate transportation
    of wagering paraphernalia), section 1954 (relating to unlawful
    welfare fund payments), section 1955 (relating to the prohibition of
    illegal gambling businesses), section 1956 (relating to the
    laundering of monetary instruments), section 1957 (relating to
    engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified
    unlawful activity), section 1958 (relating to use of interstate
    commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire), sections
    2251, 2251A, 2252, and 2260 (relating to sexual exploitation of
    children), sections 2312 and 2313 (relating to interstate
    transportation of stolen motor vehicles), sections 2314 and 2315
    (relating to interstate transportation of stolen property), section
    2318 (relating to trafficking in counterfeit labels for
    phonorecords, computer programs or computer program documentation or
    packaging and copies of motion pictures or other audiovisual works),
    section 2319 (relating to criminal infringement of a copyright),
    section 2319A (relating to unauthorized fixation of and trafficking
    in sound recordings and music videos of live musical performances),
    section 2320 (relating to trafficking in goods or services bearing
    counterfeit marks), section 2321 (relating to trafficking in certain
    motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts), sections 2341-2346 (relating
    to trafficking in contraband cigarettes), sections 2421-24 (relating
    to white slave traffic), (C) any act which is indictable under title
    29, United States Code, section 186 (dealing with restrictions on
    payments and loans to labor organizations) or section 501(c)
    (relating to embezzlement from union funds), (D) any offense
    involving fraud connected with a case under title 11 (except a case
    under section 157 of this title), fraud in the sale of securities,
    or the felonious manufacture, importation, receiving, concealment,
    buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in a controlled substance or
    listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled
    Substances Act), punishable under any law of the United States, (E)
    any act which is indictable under the Currency and Foreign
    Transactions Reporting Act, or (F) any act which is indictable under
    the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 274 (relating to
    bringing in and harboring certain aliens), section 277 (relating to
    aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter the United States), or
    section 278 (relating to importation of alien for immoral purpose)
    if the act indictable under such section of such Act was committed
    for the purpose of financial gain.
        (2) ``State\'\' means any State of the United States, the District
    of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or
    possession of the United States, any political subdivision, or any
    department, agency, or instrumentality thereof;
        (3) ``person\'\' includes any individual or entity capable of
    holding a legal or beneficial interest in property;
        (4) ``enterprise\'\' includes any individual, partnership,
    corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or
    group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity;
        (5) ``pattern of racketeering activity\'\' requires at least two
    acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the
    effective date of this chapter and the last of which occurred within
    ten years (excluding any period of imprisonment) after the
    commission of a prior act of racketeering activity;
        (6) ``unlawful debt\'\' means a debt (A) incurred or contracted in
    gambling activity which was in violation of the law of the United
    States, a State or political subdivision thereof, or which is
    unenforceable under State or Federal law in whole or in part as to
    principal or interest because of the laws relating to usury, and (
    which was incurred in connection with the business of gambling in
    violation of the law of the United States, a State or political
    subdivision thereof, or the business of lending money or a thing of
    value at a rate usurious under State or Federal law, where the
    usurious rate is at least twice the enforceable rate;
        (7) ``racketeering investigator\'\' means any attorney or
    investigator so designated by the Attorney General and charged with
    the duty of enforcing or carrying into effect this chapter;
        (8) ``racketeering investigation\'\' means any inquiry conducted
    by any racketeering investigator for the purpose of ascertaining
    whether any person has been involved in any violation of this
    chapter or of any final order, judgment, or decree of any court of
    the United States, duly entered in any case or proceeding arising
    under this chapter;
        (9) ``documentary material\'\' includes any book, paper, document,
    record, recording, or other material; and
        (10) ``Attorney General\'\' includes the Attorney General of the
    United States, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, the
    Associate Attorney General of the United States, any Assistant
    Attorney General of the United States, or any employee of the
    Department of Justice or any employee of any department or agency of
    the United States so designated by the Attorney General to carry out
    the powers conferred on the Attorney General by this chapter. Any
    department or agency so designated may use in investigations
    authorized by this chapter either the investigative provisions of
    this chapter or the investigative power of such department or agency
    otherwise conferred by law.


Sounds like it applies to organized street gangs to me.

U.S. hits drug empire
Raids target corporation-like street gang

By David Heinzmann and Todd Lighty, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter Glenn Jeffers contributed to this report

May 14, 2004

With their leader in prison, top members of the Black Disciples were called to a South Side apartment building--"The Castle," the gang called it--to hear from their newly annointed "king."

He told the assembled drug dealers that if they played by the "BD law," they would prosper. Violators would be beaten or killed by the Vanguard, the enforcers of the gang.

Since that day in 1991, Marvel Thompson, 35, ran the Black Disciples gang as if it were a diversified corporation, hauling in drug profits--as much as $300,000 per day--which the gang laundered with investments, including apartment buildings, a rap record label called M.O.B., and a carwash and nightclub in Atlanta, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Using a pirate transmitter to barge in on the FM frequency operated by a Christian radio station, the gang even broadcast "public service announcements" to their dealers, warning them when police were near, according to a 185-page indictment released Thursday by U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald.

The gang effectively took over a 16-story Chicago Housing Authority building, posting snipers on the roof to protect dealers making as much as $45,000 per day selling crack, cocaine and heroin inside, the prosecutors said. Lookouts were equipped with night-vision goggles, according to the complaint.

Thompson, a rap record producer, and 46 others were indicted this week on drug conspiracy charges after a six-year investigation led by Chicago police and the FBI.

Wearing helmets and wielding shotguns, police Wednesday stormed down the corridors of the red-brick Randolph Towers housing complex, where the gang was based, sometimes kicking in doors as they searched for suspects and scooped up $300,000 in cash.

More than 400 law enforcement officers were involved in the arrests of 32 suspects, including one in Phoenix, Ariz. Two others turned themselves in Thursday, and 13 of those indicted--including two top deputies to Thompson--remained at large Thursday, police said.

Law enforcement officials say the operation topples the hierarchy of one of Chicago\'s best organized street gangs, one that terrorized neighborhoods where they plied their trade.

"It was a very structured organization that tried to follow its own law and act as if it was its own nation right here in Chicago," Fitzgerald said. "The sales volume was frightening. . . . On one occasion, one of the outstanding members had $3 million in profits counted in a single night."

Prosecutors likened the investigation to the federal prosecution of the Gangster Disciples, whose drug dealing operations on the South Side reached an unparalleled level of organization, extending into political activity, before the leadership was convicted in the 1990s.

Originally part of the same organization, the Black Disciples split from the Black Gangster Disciple Nation after the 1974 death of founder David Barksdale opened a rift in the gang.

"This potentially can be completely devastating for the BDs, even more so than it was for the GDs," said Andrew Papachristos, a gang researcher who works for the University of Chicago and the National Gang Crime Research Center. However, jailing the leadership is unlikely to kill the whole organization, he said.

"That\'s the top down method, but what about from the bottom up? Now what happens in the neighborhoods? Are the BDs going to disappear? No. Are they going to stop dealing drugs? No. But you won\'t see as much of this corporate-style stuff," Papachristos said.

Thompson is registered with the state as president of M.O.B. Records Inc., which is based on the South Side and produces several rap music acts, including an Englewood artist, DJ Casper. Casper\'s "Cha-Cha Slide" became an international hit after its release in 2000.

Thompson also has a steady history of criminal cases in Cook County. He has a pending felony case for unlawful use of a firearm, stemming from a 2002 arrest when police approached him in Englewood and said he dropped a handgun and ran.

He also was convicted of murder in 1993, but acquitted two months later after a witness in the case recanted, saying that only Thompson\'s co-defendant, Alonzo Brooks, was involved in the 1990 shooting. Brooks is serving a 45-year sentence.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Thompson appeared in federal court with 33 other defendants in the case, then spoke clearly and directly when asked by the judge if he understood the charges.

While the gang allegedly sold drugs from numerous locations across the South Side, the headquarters and most lucrative operations were at the Randolph Towers, 6217 S. Calumet Ave.

According to the indictment, members of the gang exercised such tight control over the building that they searched anyone who entered, including residents. Gang members once searched an undercover police officer who was wearing a bulletproof vest. When gang members felt the vest, one pulled out a gun and shot the officer in the back as he turned and ran. The officer survived the shooting, prosecutors said.

On Thursday, amid an increased police presence in the neighborhood, residents said that witnessing drug deals was a part of daily life. But many said gang members did not bother them as long as they didn\'t interfere.

"I don\'t mind their business," said a 30-year-old mother who asked that her name not be used. "That\'ll get you hurt."

Fitzgerald said the gang placed huge demands on membership for loyalty. Still, the case was built in part on the testimony of 26 informants, most of them Black Disciples insiders. In one case, one of the witnesses and his 6-year-old son were shot after gang members suspected that the man had testified before a grand jury.

Several of the informants are now in the federal witness protection program, according to a spokesman for Fitzgerald.

Although numerous members of the gang were arrested and charged with serious crimes over the last several years, prosecutors said, the organization continued to operate with a shocking level of audacity, including stealing the 104.7 FM frequency from a Christian radio station.

The frequency belongs to WCFL, a Christian oriented radio station with a studio in Morris that serves the southwest suburbs.

Station manager Chuck Pryor said station officials had been told several months ago that its frequency was being pirated on the South Side to play rap music that contained profane language.

The station filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission several months ago then filed a second one recently. Pryor said that he had no inkling that the pirate station was run by one of Chicago\'s most notorious street gangs but that he heard the broadcast recently while driving to Midway Airport.

As he drove north on South Cicero Avenue, near West 63rd Street, the gang\'s pirated radio signal had simply overpowered WCFL\'s. "At that point," Pryor said, "they had pretty much taken over our frequency. I heard a guy on the air using pretty foul language.

"The F-words we use are faith, family and fun," Pryor said. "That is not the F-word they were using."


Yea..I really think it fits....just as much as anti-terrorism laws.

Unfortunately, as often seems to happen in the states, you see new broad powers given to a law-enforcement organization for one reason, and shortly thereafter they are using it in other ways...

Federal prosecutors were being told how they could use some of the new search/seizure measures in the patriot act to combat drug selling/dealing by invoking harsher penalties, and getting around normal seizure and warrant procedures by labeling dealers terrorists.  A laudable goal (reducing trafficking) to be sure, but definintely not the intention of the law when it was framed.. it simply didn\'t define things tight enough that it couldn\'t be misused.

Same in this case... I don\'t believe that street gangs are terrorists simply because they\'ve never been considered that way.. and I don\'t think they fit the dictionary definition that well either...

"The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."


They aren\'t doing this for ideological/political reasons... they\'re doing this for the most common \'crime\' reason - money.  Their intimidation of communities or people is not a primary purpose, it is secondary to their real purpose of selling drugs to make money, because it makes their crime \'safer\'.

[Living-In-Clip]

Not going to read all this, but let me sum it up....


The words "terroist" and "terrosim" is the new catch phrase for American politics and that includes the criminal justice system. Expect a lot more of this spin-doctoring and abuse of laws.

[MPTheory]

Originally posted by TSina

Twisting laws intended for one purpose so you can use them for another is a disgrace.
 

well, unfrotuntaley, thats the way its been for a long time-Not that it makes it right.  Laws are made and lawmakers twist and break those laws.

Originally posted by MPTheory
well, unfrotuntaley, thats the way its been for a long time-Not that it makes it right.  Laws are made and lawmakers twist and break those laws.

Except for in this instance they aren\'t breaking any laws, and the people fit the description.

ONLY after 9/11

Can you not see that all this post 9/11 shit is working it\'s way into other aspects?

I bet they never would have been charged with anti-terrorist laws  had 9/11 hadnt happend.

If 9/11 hadn\'t happened they wouldn\'t have the same anti-terror laws, or the patriot act for that matter... so nope.  The fact that 9/11 marked a shift in governmental response doesn\'t make that shift right... or one I think most people support.

[MPTheory]

Originally posted by TSina

I bet they never would have been charged with anti-terrorist laws  had 9/11 hadnt happend.

Damn right they wouldnt have.  I just want to know what the reasoning is.  Do you think that they use these laws to validate other laws / create new ones?

[clips]

damn i\'ve been gone for several days and i\'m tryin to catch up here...anyway it\'s silly to charde them with terrorism...they\'re not sending a message...it\'s just plain retarded...i even heard that they might let the only guy they have in custody for the 911 attacks go...forgot his name but THAT is somebody the law actually applies to...it completlely baffles me how the u.s. court system works...