Written by Chicago police have launched a new initiative to curb gang-related deaths in the city by delivering a strong message in person to reputed top gang members.
At an unpublicized meeting earlier this month, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis and federal prosecutors put pressure on reputed leaders from the city’s West Side to end killing and violence.
“If one of these guys should kill another gang member, we are going to come down on them with all the firepower we have,” Weis said Saturday at an unrelated news conference. “We are focusing on group responsibility.”
The Aug. 17 meeting at Garfield Park Conservatory was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Several attendees said the meeting came as a surprise and Weis admitted the message didn’t sit well.
“It was a gimmick,” 31-year-old parolee Labar Spann told the Sun-Times for a story published in Sunday editions. “They told us we had to go to a meeting because of our parole.”
Police say Spann, on parole for armed robbery and other charges, was a one-time gang leader. But Spann insists he’s not a gang chief.
“They want to lock us up for something we didn’t do,” he said.
Some walked out during the nearly two-hour meeting, which was also attended by family members of victims of violence.
“They did not like the idea at all, because they realized something one of their colleagues may do could lead to a lot of pressure on them,” Weis said. “That’s what we tried to emphasize: This is group responsibility, group accountability. So you’re a leader, you’d better influence your guys to behave.”
The new program is called the Chicago Gang Violence Reduction Initiative.
At the meeting, Weis said authorities would look at bringing conspiracy cases against who didn’t heed the police warning.
He specifically referenced the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.The federal law, commonly known as RICO, provides stiffer penalties for acts performed as part of a criminal organization such as the Mafia.
