City Touts Lower Homicide Stats, But Context Reveals Return To Normal
Teen Mob Action Takes Over Chicago’s Gold Coast
(CBS) — The warmest day of the year so far brings hundreds of mischievous teens to Michigan Avenue.
Police are calling it ‘mob action’.
CBS 2 is learning about multiple incidents in at least four different locations along the Magnificent Mile and in the Gold Coast, yielding a slew of arrests.
Things got pretty bad, very quickly with many innocent shoppers and tourists caught in the middle of a very chaotic situation.
Hundreds of teens littered Michigan Avenue and State Street near Chicago.
Things started to go bad around 6:00 p.m. Saturday, with teens purposely bumping into people, and causing fights among themselves.
Fifteen juveniles and two adults were arrested and charged with Reckless Conduct— a misdemeanor.
Community activist, Andrew Holmes witnessed some of the problems, while shopping with his family.
“You had a group of teens, close to maybe 500. They assaulted a Chicago police officer that was on a mounted on a horse and all of a sudden they assaulted a citizen walking the streets, just a normal citizen shopping and enjoying the weather,” said Holmes.
Later that night, a man was attacked around 10:45 p.m. while walking near Chicago and Dearborn. Sources tell us he was jumped and punched in the face by a group of teens. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
In a separate incident, a group of woman say they were attacked by a mob of girls on the CTA Red Line. The women reported a robbery once they got off the train at the State and Monroe station. Eleven females were arrested—10 juveniles and one adult—and charged with battery. Two of the teens were charged with strong- armed robbery.
“I caution those parents if their child has been arrested which numerous teenagers have been arrested tonight, that you need to think about your child. Just don’t say the Chicago police picked on your child, when we were watching all the assault going on, especially by teen women,” said Holmes.
A total of 28 arrests were made last night surrounding downtown disturbances involving teens. Of those arrests, 25 were juveniles.
Charges range from Battery and Strong Armed Robbery to Reckless Conduct.
CBS 2 has learned since these charges are misdemeanors, many of those arrested have already been released on I-bonds.
Sources tell CBS 2 that much of this activity was planned weeks ago through social media.This type of pre-planned mob violence has become a regular happening in Chicago for the past few years, which the media has failed to adequately report under threat from city hall. God forbid we scare away any tourists.
Why doesn’t media cover Chicago’s poor enforcement of gun laws?
Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s executive vice president and CEO, who appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, asked host David Gregory why the network doesn’t focus on the poor enforcement of federal gun laws in Chicago.
“I mean, let me give you the real sad thing, though. Let me hold up a mirror right now to the whole national news media and the White House,” the NRA official began. “I just got the track data from Syracuse University on enforcement of federal gun laws. Last time I was here, I brought it from 2011; it just came out from 2012.”
“Do you know where Chicago ranks in terms of enforcement of the federal gun laws? Out of 90 jurisdictions in the country, they ranked 90th,” Mr. LaPierre continued.
“Why doesn’t NBC News start with: ‘Shocking news on Chicago. Of all the jurisdictions in the country, Chicago’s dead last on enforcement of the federal gun laws?’” he asked. “Why doesn’t the national press corps, when they’re sitting down there with Jay Carney and the president and the vice president, why don’t they say, ‘Why is Chicago dead last in enforcement of the gun laws against gangs with guns, felons with guns, drug dealers with guns?’”
Mr. Gregory then asked Mr. Pierre the peculiar question about whether he supports those criminals being charged with felonies.
“Absolutely,” Mr. Pierre affirmed. “And we want them taken off the street. I mean, if you’re the president and the vice president, and the attorney general, and your job is to enforce these laws against the — I’m talking about drug dealers, gangs and felons that are walking around with guns in the street, and you don’t do it? You bear some responsibility. It is a tragedy.”As the kids like to say, "EPIC FAIL."
Jesse Jackson Jr. Plea Deal Could Be Filed As Soon As Friday
February 14, 2013 10:01 PM
(CBS) – Federal prosecutors are now ready to file their plea agreement with Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., CBS 2 has learned.
Jackson’s wife, Sandi, faces legal troubles under the arrangement.
Formal charges against Jesse Jackson Jr. could be filed as soon as Friday and Tuesday at the latest. His plea has also implicated his wife, leading to tax fraud charges against her.
The filing at the U.S District Courthouse in Washington will not require a court appearance by either Jackson. Plea agreements will be submitted to the court clerk and assigned to judges, who will set initial court dates.
As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reported last week, Jesse Jackson Jr. will plead guilty to one felony count of misuse of campaign funds and then let a federal judge determine his punishment, which according to the agreement could range from probation to five year in prison.
Jackson’s deal calls for him to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars spent for things like travel and meals with a mistress and a $40,000 men’s Rolex watch he bought for himself. Jackson’s resignation from Congress was also part of the deal.
But Jackson’s pleading guilty to using campaign funds for personal expenses could expose Sandi, his campaign manager, to tax-fraud charges.
The congressman’s guilty plea says Sandi knew about improper purchases that apparently include breakfast snacks, cosmetic services, even beds purchased for campaign workers.
Sandi Jackson is expected to accept responsibility for some things because, as the congressman’s campaign manager, she signed the tax returns.
Both Jacksons could face penalties ranging from probation to jail time.
But it’s hard to believe that, with two young children at home, both would be sent to prison.
Chicago attorney Dan Webb is representing Sandi Jackson.
Alleged gunman in Hadiya Pendleton slaying was on probation for weapons conviction
By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune reporterDirector Jesus Reyes, here comes the EXPRESS bus to the end of your career as a county bureaucrat, driven by Supt. McNotMyFault:
7:27 a.m. CST, February 12, 2013
The reputed gang member accused of gunning down 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton last month was on the street even though he had been arrested three times in connection with break-ins and trespassing while on probation for a weapons conviction in recent months, the Tribune has learned.
In two of those arrests, including one just 2 1/2 months ago, Cook County probation officials failed to notify prosecutors or the judge that Michael Ward had been arrested on the new misdemeanor charges and allegedly violated his probation.
The head of the county's probation department acknowledged Monday that his office fell short in its responsibilities and vowed to find out what went wrong.
Reyes emphasized, though, that it was unclear whether any of Ward's alleged probation violations would have led to his being sent to prison for an extended time. The probation department handles thousands of cases each year, and often alleged violations lead only to short jail stints — especially on misdemeanor arrests or if the new charges are soon dropped, as happened in two of Ward's arrests, he said."There should have been a violation filed, but for some reason there was not," said Jesus Reyes, director of the Cook County Adult Probation Department. "Absolutely, we will investigate."
"I don't know if something that minor would have taken him off the street for very long," Reyes said.
Bob Loeb, a veteran criminal defense attorney and former county prosecutor, said many judges are reluctant to clog up their calls with probation violations.
"They'll hold them for a while to show them the inside of the jail," Loeb said. "If the new charge is dismissed, then often they don't proceed on the (violation of probation) because they've already accomplished scaring the guy. So nothing else happens."
Ward, then 17, was arrested in October 2011 after Chicago police officers responding to a call of a person with a gun in the 3700 block of South Langley Avenue spotted him running away in clothing matching the description of the suspect, according to court records.
Officers chased Ward and saw him throw a handgun into a grassy area behind a building, the records say. The weapon, a loaded Cobra .38 Special, was later found under a bush, according to court records. Ward told the officers that he had the gun "because the boys from Lake Park were after me," apparently a reference to gang members from a nearby neighborhood.
Ward pleaded guilty to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in January 2012 and was sentenced to two years of probation by Judge Nicholas Ford. As part of his probation, Ward was ordered confined to his home at night for the first six months, court records show. He also was instructed to complete his high school diploma and attend an anti-violence forum.
Less than three months later, Ward was arrested on the South Side and charged with breaking into a car, but probation officials didn't notify prosecutors that constituted a violation of his probation, Reyes said. At his next court date, prosecutors dropped the charge, records show.
In July, Ward was again arrested on charges he broke into a vehicle. This time, the probation office alerted the state's attorney's office, prompting prosecutors to ask that his probation be rescinded. In August, Ford ordered Ward held without bail, according to the records.
But the break-in charges were dropped the next month when the complaining witness did not appear in court. Three days later, Ford ordered Ward released from custody, records show.
Court records show Ward, now 18, picked up his third arrest in late November. He was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, but probation officials again failed to notify prosecutors, according to Reyes. The charge was dropped in December when a witness failed to show up in court, records show.
Police also arrested Ward numerous times as a juvenile on charges ranging from robbery to battery to marijuana possession, court records show. At least two of those arrests resulted in convictions, and Ward spent time in 2011 on juvenile probation.
Tribune reporter Carlos Sadovi contributed
It’s been nearly three months since Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned from Congress, but now NBC News confirms that Jackson has signed papers in a plea deal within the past several days.
Jackson’s case is being handled by the US Attorney’s office in Washington DC. While no public announcement is expected today, those with knowledge of the investigation believe the loose ends now deal with Jackson’s wife, former Alderman Sandi Jackson, and whether or not she is ultimately charged.
Under the terms of the deal Jackson signed, he pleads guilty and his fate – as to jail time – would be in the hands of a federal judge, not yet assigned. He would repay the government hundreds of thousands of dollars – for items like the $40,000 Rolex watch, travel expenses for a woman he described as a “social acquaintance” and furniture purchased for his home.
Converting campaign contributions for personal use is strictly prohibited by federal law. It opens Jackson up to “not more than 5 years” in prison.
It’s clear Jackson’s move to resign from Congress works in his favor as his attorneys negotiate this plea deal.
Just last month his wife also resigned from her elected position as Chicago’s 7th Ward alderman, however her role in the alleged misuse of campaign funds still may land her in legal trouble. For years she received a $5,000 a month check from her husband as his political consultant.
Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed has learned that federal prosecutors have a plea deal for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. that calls for what Sneed says is “significant jail time.”
Prosecutors and attorneys for phantom congressman, led by Dan Webb, have been negotiating a plea deal ever since Jackson discovered he was the subject of a federal investigation into how he spent his campaign funds. Webb, who earned his initial reputation in the Operation Greylord scandal, is no stranger to negotiating plea deals for elected officials, having helped negotiate the plea deal for former congressman Dan Rostenkowski in 1994. Prosecutors believe Jackson spent campaign funds on redecorating his home and on a Rolex watch for a female friend. It’s believed Jackson was tipped off on the investigation, which may be a reason why prosecutors are demanding an extended prison sentence
The transfer of campaign funds between his accounts and those of his wife, former 7th Ward Ald. Sandi Jackson, have also come under scrutiny. Sneed and Sun-Times reporter Natasha Korecki reported earlier this week that federal authorities have opened a separate investigation into Sandi Jackson’s campaign fund and her access to her husband’s fund. Sandi Jackson drew a $5,000 per month salary from her husband’s fund and filed a series of amended campaign disclosure forms in December that included $13,500 in previously undisclosed transfers from her husband’s campaign fund to hers.
Jackson Jr., in his November resignation letter, acknowledged the ongoing investigation and worded the letter to shield his wife from prosecutors. Sneed writes Sandi Jackson now feels she was “thrown under the bus by her husband” now that she’s being investigated.
Prosecutors maintain they’re uncertain on whether charges will eventually be filed against Sandi Jackson and will have to take into account the couple have school age children if they do pursue her.This family has been stirring racial hatred and stealing from their people for decades. Karma can be one bad-ass bitch, can't she Rev Jackson.
- Loses consciousness after a beating at the hands of her father, dies on scene with paramedics present, classified as a homicide. But a bloody January weekend and a desperate need to keep homicides under 40 results in the highlighted line in picture #1:
- ME ruled death NATURAL - Pulmonary Embolism, victim was struck in head by father who is in custody.
- Any doctors want to let the readers know if a beating with documented head trauma might be enough to cause or loosen existing blood clots that might lead to a pulmonary embolism - and death?
- We imagine that this one is going to disappear down the memory hole in short order. See that unchecked box at the top left the first photo? "Confidential Incident." Expect that to be changed before 9 AM this morning and expect an order to be cut that ALL homicides, death investigations and similar incidents will be checked as "confidential" until such time as our political and department masters deem it worthy of being observed by the masses.
There's some serious panic at City Hall and CPD HQ. Last year's homicide number went past 500 in the last few day of the 2012, and now even though we're in the midst of a cold wintry season murder numbers are off to a scorching start, already well above last years rate. Chicago's violence "problem" has become national news, much to the embarrassment of Rahm and his former boss and Chicago homeboy Obama. Meanwhile, Rahm is pushing for even more restrictive gun legislation (doesn't Illinois/Chicago already have the most oppressive gun legislation in the nation?) and his Superintendent of Police seems only able to announce weekly tactical changes and manipulate the numbers as best he can.
- Hey Zekman? (fyi: CBS investigative reporter in Chicago) How about instead of picking on coppers going through a tedious process, you look at the manipulation of numbers - you know, like when you used to be an actual reporter. All the numbers Pammy, because you know no one is going to care about a dead black dope head. Maybe you can get Jesse involved to see why Rahman-Noodle and McCompStat are downgrading a case where the only casualty is a dead minority woman.
Mom of 4 murdered children: ‘We need tougher gun laws’
BY MITCH DUDEK AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters January 27, 2013 10:02PM
After losing a daughter and two sons to gun violence, Shirley Chambers prayed and dreamed her only surviving child would grow to be an old man.
But on Sunday evening, a day after her 34-year-old son, Ronnie, was shot and killed, she was coming to the awful realization that she would need to buy another set of flowers on her regular visits to see her children at Burr Oak Cemetery.
“I’d pray for God to protect Ronnie and keep him safe day and night,” said Shirley Chambers, a cashier at a downtown Portillo’s eatery who recently took her son into her apartment on the Near North Side because he was having financial troubles.
Ronnie Chambers was the manager of aspiring rapper YK, short for Yung Killa. On Dec. 17, they were featured on an episode of “The Ricki Lake Show.”
He told the TV host that his siblings’ murders — and his own long arrest record — prompted him to “do something different.”
His mother said Sunday her son was following through on that pledge and turning his life around, but she was concerned about his association with YK.
“I really started to worry about Ronnie when he got involved with this rapper, because I saw what happened on TV with that rapper on the South Side getting killed,” said Shirley Chambers, 54, referring to the September shooting death of rapper Joseph ‘Lil JoJo’ Coleman.
Ronnie Chambers was shot about 2:15 a.m. in the 1100 block of South Mozart after attending a downtown “listening party” for YK.
Ronnie Chambers was in a van after dropping off a friend’s son when someone opened fire, hitting Ronnie Chambers in the head and wounding another man in the van.
“He didn’t have no beef with nobody,” Shirley Chambers said. “We need tougher gun laws, where people will know they will be in prison for a long time if they choose to pick up a gun and take a life.”
Ronnie Chambers’ friend, Nicole Smith, said her son was safely in the home when they heard the gunfire.
“I told everybody to get down on the floor,” Smith said.
She said people called 911 and waited for an ambulance while they tried to comfort Ronnie Chambers, whose nickname was Scooby.
“We kept saying, ‘Breathe for us, Scoob,’ ” she said.
Smith said she thinks someone followed Ronnie Chambers from the downtown party to “get him.”
Shirley Chambers raised her four children in the Cabrini-Green public housing complex on the North Side.
Her 23-year-old son, Jerome, was shot to death outside a Cabrini-Green building in 2000. Two months earlier, a 13-year-old boy gunned down her 15-year-old daughter, LaToya, nearby.
In 1995, a 16-year-old boy fatally shot her 18-year-old son, Carlos, on a sidewalk in the South Loop. They both attended Jones High School.
“I can’t take it any more. I need help,” Shirley Chambers said. “If anybody’s out there who knows what happened to my baby, they need to talk."Message to Shirley: Yo boy lil' Scooby wasn't turning his life around. Don't fool yourself. Have a good look at yourself in the mirror Shirley. You got four children shot dead. You think maybe your parenting skills had something to do with what has happened? And now you're calling for tougher gun laws? Tougher than the laws already on the books in Chicago? Your children were a victim of their own lifestyle and the violence that's become a major element of your community. Shirley, this isn't going to change until you accept some responsibility for your children's deaths. But yeah, you go ahead and keep blaming others.
"10. On February 18th, 2005, after Kyla McCarthy was ticketed. She immediately telephoned her father Gary McCarthy. According to Palisades Parkway detective Thomas Rossi, who issued the ticket, Kyla “got on her cell phone and said, ‘My father would like to speak to you.’” Rossi refused to speak to Gary McCarthy which is standard procedure on Motor Vehicle stops as something not to do. Kyla McCarthy added that her father was a deputy commissioner in the NYPD and said to Detective Rossi, “My father really wants to talk to you.” McCarthy arrived minutes later, backed his department car into a one-way zone, jumped out and said to Detective Rossi and his partner Officer Roman Galloza, “You know who I am. This is bull****. This is @#%$ bull****.” McCarthy became increasingly agitated and noticing McCarthy’s gun in his waistband, Galloza wrested the gun from McCarthy, tossing it into his own police vehicle. Regina, meanwhile, shouted, “That’s my husband’s @#%$ gun,” and retrieved it, cradling it to her chest as Detective Rossi dived on top of her. Both McCarthy’s were then handcuffed and arrested."Got stars? Supt. McCarthy likes to wear a whole bunch. I count 19 in this picture. He must be an important man.
SPRINGFIELD — Add gun-control legislation to the growing legislative scrap heap for what thus far has been a lame lame-duck session.
Citing a lack of support, the House sponsor of bans on military-style weapons — dubbed “assault weapons” by critics — and the high-powered ammunition that feeds them decided Sunday not to call either measure for a vote in his chamber.
532 people were murdered in the city of Chicago, according to statistics compiled by the Crime in Chicago website. The number of people murdered the year before was 441, meaning in the city of Chicago, murders have increased by 91 from 2011 to 2012.
The Chicago Police Department was not available to confirm these numbers today, which is New Year's Day.
The website also claims that, through December 25, 2012, there 2,670 people were shot in Chicago last year. That's also an increase from the year before, when 2,217 people were shot in Chicago that year.
Despite promises of staffing increases, the Chicago Police Department has fewer beat officers in patrol districts across the city than before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of city data has found.This has been happening at the CPD for a few years now, going back to Richie Daley's tenure. The lame-stream media is so far behind in reporting this story I am amazed to be seeing this even now.
Days after he was sworn into office last year, Emanuel announced the start of what he described as a major shift in how the police department assigns officers across the city. He promised to fulfill a campaign pledge by assigning 1,000 more cops to high-crime areas without reducing the police presence in other parts of the city.
“We cannot beat crime without more officers on the beat,” the mayor said then.
That was May 2011.
But, as of Oct. 15, a total of 6,638 rank-and-file officers were assigned to police beats citywide, down from 6,746 beat cops at the start of 2011, according to the data obtained by the Sun-Times.
Democratic State Sen. Donne Trotter was arrested Dec. 5 when security screeners at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport found an unloaded .25-caliber Beretta handgun and ammunition in his garment bag. He told officers the gun is for a job he has with a security firm and that he had forgotten it was in his bag. Trotter, 62, spent a night in jail before posting bail and being released. He has been charged with a felony.
When asked if New York should serve as a model during negotiations with the Illinois Legislature, Gov. Pat Quinn said: "Everything must be on the table. ... I imagine there will be hearings, I know there will be, on this subject, and there will be an opportunity to bring out the very best way to go for our state."
"There is no mistaking 14th ward alderman Ed Burke on the floor of the Chicago City Council. He’s the white-haired, pinstriped alderman sitting in the most important desk on the floor: the one he occupies as head of the Finance Committee.
But state records show another role for Edward M. Burke: Private Eye.
Burke is a licensed private detective. In addition he’s approved to carry a semi-automatic weapon. And according to state records Edward M. Burke is also a private security contractor, trained and certified to also carry a revolver."
With gangland shootings becoming an every-day occurrence in Chicago, the Board of Commissioners in surrounding Cook County is trying anew to tackle the deadly problem -- with another tax. But already, some are questioning whether the move is more about making a statement than addressing the violence. Under the new law, Cook County is charging an additional $25 tax on every handgun sold inside county lines. Gun shop owner Fred Lutger said this fee targets legal gun buyers, and not the gangsters responsible for many of Chicago's homicides. "They make it sound like it's a tax but it's actually a fight against the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms," he said. The new tax was sold to the public with the idea that it would offset the public cost of medical care for shooting victims. According to Board President Toni Preckwinkle's own numbers, that cost was just shy of $35 million. Yet the estimated revenue for the new tax will be roughly $600,000. Still, the tax might not be just about the money. Laurence Msall, president of The Civic Federation in Chicago, said "it's clear that the motivation for the tax is not revenue." "It is it is more of a public policy issue in terms of trying to deter people from buying firearms," Msall said. Opponents of the law, though, warn that the tax could backfire -- by driving buyers and even businesses out of Cook County. Preckwinkle said she would be "astonished" if businesses actually left Cook over the tax. But County Commissioner Tim Schneider said: "I think we're astonished many times when businesses leave the county, but they do." Cook County has been down this road before. There is a tax on bottled water -- one of the highest sales taxes in the country. An increase in the cigarette tax fell dramatically short of projected revenue because tobacco store owners hoarded up the tax stamps before the increase went into effect. The new fee in Cook County, though passed earlier in the year, comes as other jurisdictions are examining ways to curb gun violence in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting. While some have turned to taxes, others are calling for bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. In Congress, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., plans to introduce such a bill at the federal level during the next session.
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