Cornell Dawson
Over 40 leaders and senior members of Chicago street gang, the “Black Souls”, who operate a violent drug-dealing organization on the city’s West Side, were charged with the State of Illinois’ new Racketeering Conspiracy and Calculated Criminal Drug Conspiracy (RICO) laws.
The RICO Act, is a United States federal law that provides for extensive criminal penalties and the filing of civil lawsuits as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act targets racketeering and it allows crime leaders to be tried for the crimes in which they ordered others to do or assisted them in doing. This eliminates the loophole that previously allowed a person who ordered a crime to escape prosecution because they didn’t actually commit the crime themselves.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was a vocal supporter of RICO law stating in a recent interview, “I pushed for a statewide RICO law so that our public safety officials would have a valuable tool in reclaiming our neighborhoods from gangs, guns and drugs.”
Of the total 41 gang affiliates arrested, 23 of the Black Souls members have been charged with RICO, a Class X felony offense. The statutory code in Illinois provides that the Class X felony has a sentencing range of 6-30 years prison without the possibility of probation.
Teron Odum
The remaining defendants are charged with state drug offenses and other criminal transgressions. The Black Soul’s “chief” Cornell Dawson, 38, and second in command Teron Odum, 34, were among those arrested.
The take-down investigation was called “Operation 40 Cal” which was a collaborative effort with the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Office, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Operation 40 Cal focused on a two by three block radius of Madison and Pulaski area.
Law enforcement authorities estimate that the Black Souls may have collected potentially $11 million annually in cash from selling small doses of heroin/cocaine in hand-to-hand transactions with drive-by customers
The RICO act applies to Operation 40 Cal based on the violent criminal activities of the Black Souls since May 1999, where underlying charges include; murder or intimidation of witnesses, kidnapping, multiple counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder including the attempted murder of two Chicago police officers, murder of other gang members as a form of punishment, drug trafficking, bribery, armed robbery, burglary and various weapons offenses.
“This is a milestone moment in our effort to continue reducing violence and crime in Chicago, made possible by our officers and our state and federal law enforcement partners,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy. “The arrests and charges under the state RICO law are significant and meaningful, and this powerful tool will help us continue to reduce violence as part of our comprehensive policing strategy.”
Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI Cory B. Nelson stated, “[These] arrests are another chapter in our focused efforts to rid Chicago’s neighborhoods of violence. They demonstrate the effectiveness of joining forces with our law enforcement partners toward that common goal.”
State prosecutors can now target and file charges against gang members, leadership and overall gang activity based on the patterns and practices the gang’s criminal organization creates under the new RICO law which is similar to how federal prosecutors used RICO in the past. Illinois was one of the few remaining states that did not have modern state RICO law; federal prosecutors have successfully used RICO law for over 40 years.
The RICO law was sponsored by Ill. Sen. Tony Munoz (Dist.-1st) and Ill. State Rep. Michael Zalewski (Dist.-21st) and was written by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s administration.
“The new Street Gang RICO law has enabled us to launch an unprecedented attack on the leadership of this violent and notorious Chicago street gang,” Alvarez said. “It is a game changer for law enforcement in our war against Chicago street gangs.”
By Lee Edwards