Wednesday, March 15, 2017

"Man who used $25M settlement to rebuild gang is going back to prison"

Via Reddit:  A gang leader who used his $25 million award from a wrongful murder conviction suit to rebuild his street gang, is headed back to prison, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber sentenced Thaddeus Jimenez to more than nine years in prison on weapons charges – just five years after Jimenez successfully sued the city of Chicago and the police department.

Lienenweber handed down the sentence after the court watched disturbing iPhone video shot by Jimenez's co-defendant, 24-year-old Jose Roman. The video shows the pair sipping grape soda and listening to opera music as they cruise Chicago's Northwest Side in August, 2015, looking for rival gang members to shoot, according to prosecutors.

At one point, Jimenez, 38, spots a man getting out of his car, ex-gang member Earl Casteel, 33, according to the Chicago Tribune. Casteel greets the pair and appears surprised when Jimenez pulls out a pistol and points it at him. The cellphone footage shows Jimenez nonchalantly shooting a stunned Casteel in both legs before driving off.

Jimenez and Roman both pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges, but will also stand trial in the shooting of Casteel. Roman was sentenced Thursday to just over seven years in prison after his attorney argued that he was "more of a hanger-on."

The Chicago Tribune reports that Jimenez, a leader of the Simon City Royals, spent millions on luxury cars for himself and his gang. He even paid members to tattoo the gang's insignia on their faces and launched a social media campaign to grow his crew, according to the paper.

Jimenez was charged at the age of 13 with the 1993 murder of a 19-year-old gang member, Eric Morro. In 2009, Jimenez was released from prison after witnesses recanted their testimony.

Reddit comments Link

8 comments:

edutcher said...

Jimenez.

Could we be talking illegal?

chickelit said...

In Chicago, crime pays. Pays really well.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

25 million would be a ticket out for most people. (right?)
The crime culture runs deep in Chicago. Is it any wonder one party rules supreme there? It's all connected.

Amartel said...

This guy's got a future in progressive politics:

Community organizing? Check
Wasting unearned money for allegiance? Check
Actively building a criminal organization for personal profit? Check
Ultimately achieving nothing whatsoever other than making everything a lot worse? Check
Ending up right back where you belong? Check (well, that one's purely aspirational)

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

They prove the truth of this proverb: "A dog returns to its vomit." And another says, "A washed pig returns to the mud." 2 Peter 2:22

Leland said...

Ah Chicago doing the redistributing thing. When they go bankrupt; I'll remember this little story.

Methadras said...

How many times must it be said that gangs are terrorist organizations and need to be treated as such.

ampersand said...

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