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Feds indict alleged boss of Latin Kings, 17 others
October 1, 2009 (CHICAGO) -- An alleged leader of Chicago's Latin Kings street gang has been indicted with 17 others in connection with a large-scale drug-selling operation that used murder and extortion to protect its turf and silence informants, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Augustin Zambrano, 49, one of those charged, was described by prosecutors as the "corona" of the gang -- its highest-ranking member still not in prison and leader of all factions of the Almighty Latin King Nation in the Chicago area.
Prosecutors announced the charges just over one year after federal agents arrested 25 alleged Latin King members and associates in a crackdown designed to cripple one of Chicago's biggest drug-selling street gangs.
Thirteen of those rounded up a year ago pleaded guilty while charges remain pending against a dozen others. The 12 others are all named in the new, superseding indictment, which also brings charges against six new individuals.
Fifteen of those named in the indictment were charged with a racketeering conspiracy that included not only selling drugs but scheming to preserve and protect their territory through murder, assault, extortion and other crimes.
Those not charged in the racketeering count were facing other charges.
Among other things, gang members were accused of squeezing "street tax" -- extortion payments -- out of an organization selling bogus immigration documents in the primarily Mexican-American Little Village area southwest of downtown.
Prosecutors said it was the first time the Latin Kings had been charged with extracting street tax from non-gang members.
Agents swept through the neighborhood in April 2007 and arrested 22 people on charges of taking part in an illegal documents ring based largely in a Little Village photo shop.
The indictment Thursday said the gang tried to keep the community and its own members in line by issuing a shoot-on-sight order for Latin Kings who turned government informants. Gang members were required to take part in "burns," in which those who posed a threat to the organization were beaten or killed, the indictment said.
October 1, 2009 (CHICAGO) -- An alleged leader of Chicago's Latin Kings street gang has been indicted with 17 others in connection with a large-scale drug-selling operation that used murder and extortion to protect its turf and silence informants, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Augustin Zambrano, 49, one of those charged, was described by prosecutors as the "corona" of the gang -- its highest-ranking member still not in prison and leader of all factions of the Almighty Latin King Nation in the Chicago area.
Prosecutors announced the charges just over one year after federal agents arrested 25 alleged Latin King members and associates in a crackdown designed to cripple one of Chicago's biggest drug-selling street gangs.
Thirteen of those rounded up a year ago pleaded guilty while charges remain pending against a dozen others. The 12 others are all named in the new, superseding indictment, which also brings charges against six new individuals.
Fifteen of those named in the indictment were charged with a racketeering conspiracy that included not only selling drugs but scheming to preserve and protect their territory through murder, assault, extortion and other crimes.
Those not charged in the racketeering count were facing other charges.
Among other things, gang members were accused of squeezing "street tax" -- extortion payments -- out of an organization selling bogus immigration documents in the primarily Mexican-American Little Village area southwest of downtown.
Prosecutors said it was the first time the Latin Kings had been charged with extracting street tax from non-gang members.
Agents swept through the neighborhood in April 2007 and arrested 22 people on charges of taking part in an illegal documents ring based largely in a Little Village photo shop.
The indictment Thursday said the gang tried to keep the community and its own members in line by issuing a shoot-on-sight order for Latin Kings who turned government informants. Gang members were required to take part in "burns," in which those who posed a threat to the organization were beaten or killed, the indictment said.