Almighty Saints

Last updated

Almighty Saints
Founding location Back of the Yards, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Years active1960s–present
Territory New City, Chicago
Ethnicity Hispanic-American
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, murder
Rivals People Nation, Folk Nation, Gangster Disciples, La Raza Nation, Gangster Two Six, Satan's Disciples, Latin Kings

The Almighty Saints is a street gang founded in the early 1960s by Polish youth at Davis Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago, but later was largely made up of Hispanics due to the change in the community's ethnic makeup.

Contents

The name "Saints" was borrowed from the TV series of the same name as evidenced by the similarities between the stickman used on the show and the street gang.

The Saints have maintained the same territory since the 1960s, an uncommon occurrence in Chicago, where gangs usually lose terrain over the years. By the 1980s, the gang had become extremely violent and drug trafficking became very lucrative.

In a 1998 feature article, the Chicago Tribune wrote: "In a city known for its fearsome supergangs—criminal enterprises like the Latin Kings and the Gangster Disciples—the Saints stand out as an example of the street corner gang that still hangs on in many neighborhoods." [1]

People Nation

After the formation of the People Nation and Folk Nation during the 1980s, the Saints initially decided to remain renegades, refusing to align with either Nation. By the late 1980s to early 1990s, many Saint gang members were incarcerated within the prison system which led the Saints to join the People Nation for protection. They were brought into the People Nation by the Almighty Latin Kings as cousins, hence the addition of "Almighty" ... and the five-point star. [2]

Recent activities

In 1998, a 12-year-old boy shot two teen Gangster Disciple members in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, in the hope of joining the Almighty Saints street gang. [3] The 12 year old was later convicted in juvenile court and sentenced to prison until his 21st birthday.

In December 2004, there was a police raid in the Saints neighborhood dubbed "Operation Broken Halo"; 25 members were arrested and detained in prison on drug dealing and weapons charges. The Saints were still very active in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. [4]

On February 12, 2006, 23-year-old Francisco Romero, a member of the Saints, escaped from Cook County Jail along with five other inmates. He had been convicted of murder and sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was later captured. [5]

On May 4, 2018, at approximately 3:15 a.m., 27 year old Almighty Saints gang member Ernesto "Ernie" Godinez was acting as a lookout in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood when he opened fire on members of an undercover joint task force who he mistook as rival gang members, striking 28 year old ATF agent Kevin Crump. Crump and other agents were placing court-approved tracking devices on vehicles belonging to suspected gang members during a joint mission between the Chicago Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Kevin Crump and other members of the strike force were acting on information that the Almighty Saints gang in the Back of the Yards might have just received a number of guns. Crump was a member of the strike force created in June 2017 to cut down on the flow of illegal guns into Chicago and to crack down on repeat gun offenders. 20 ATF agents and a number of officers from the Chicago Police Department and the Illinois State Police were assigned to the task force. No other officers were hurt in the incident. Kevin Crump was the 4th law enforcement officer shot in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood during that past year, the Tribune reported.

In previous incidents, two Chicago police officers were shot with a high-powered rifle while driving in an undercover van in May 2017. One officer was hit in the arm and hip, the other in the back. Another officer was shot in the leg in July 2017 while chasing down robbers in the vicinity of 46th Street and Ashland Avenue. The Back of the Yards neighborhood had become a hotbed for gang-related shootings during the past two years leading to the deaths of 50 people out of more than 140 who were shot by gang members wielding rifles across the South and Southwest sides. ATF agent Kevin Crump was not hit by rifle fire. Sources said 9 mm bullet casings, presumably from the suspect's handgun, were found by investigators. A Chicago police officer also returned fire but did not manage to hit anyone. The shooting prompted a massive manhunt for the gunman. Hundreds of officers from specialized gang and organized crime units were reassigned to take part in the search for the shooter. A $61,000 reward was offered in the case. The FBI and ATF each offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The U.S. Marshals Service committed $10,000 and community activist Andrew Holmes $1,000. Police and federal agents scoured the Back of the Yards neighborhood for days after the shooting executing at least eight search warrants.

On the evening of May 7, 2018, Godinez turned himself in to federal agents after his attorney arranged his surrender with authorities. According to some sources, the terms of surrender were worked out during conversations that took place over the weekend. On May 8, 2018 Godinez was charged with assault of a Federal Officer with a deadly weapon in the shooting of an ATF agent in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood as undercover law enforcement agents conducted a "covert" middle-of-the-night operation. The charges were announced by John R. Lausch Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Celinez Nunez, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and Eddie T. Johnson, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. On May 16, 2018, Godinez, 28, was formally indicted on a single count of assaulting an ATF agent with a deadly weapon. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Eichenseer said footage showed Godinez driving around his block in the Back of the Yards neighborhood shortly before the shooting, "essentially patrolling the neighborhood, presumably on the lookout for rival gang members." Godinez’s lawyer, Lawrence Hyman, argued that evidence against Godinez was flimsy. "Authorities had no evidence showing that Godinez even had a gun that night," he said. Hyman called allegations that Godinez shot at someone a half a block away, "an absurdity." He also suggested that the agent may have been struck by friendly fire.

On May 21, 2018 Godinez pled not guilty to charges accusing him of shooting an undercover federal agent. Prosecutors alleged that Godinez fired five rounds from the mouth of the gangway towards the agents down the block striking the victim in the face. Godinez's lawyer, Lawrence Hyman, had ridiculed the evidence in court as "flimsy", noting that the video didn’t show Godinez in possession of a gun that night. On June 17, 2019 a federal jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Ernesto "Ernie" Godinez guilty on one count each of assaulting an agent with a deadly weapon and of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime. Federal prosecutors said that surveillance cameras captured Godinez leaving his house at 43rd and Wood Streets before walking down an alley toward 44th and Hermitage, he then ran back through the alley to his house after the attack. While the shooting itself was not captured, prosecutors alleged that Godinez fired five rounds from the mouth of the gangway towards the group of undercover agents. Shortly after the shooting, prosecutors said Godinez hopped into a car with his girlfriend, Victoria Jean-Baptiste and allegedly told her, "I feel good . . . f--- that flake."

In his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Eichenseer said that cameras — as well as Godinez’s text messages with his girlfriend — showed that he had "posted up" in the neighborhood looking for rivals when several suspicious-looking men in hooded sweatshirts began circling his block in a brown Chevrolet Impala. At the time, the task force officers — including Crump — were dressed in sweatshirts with their hoods up and were driving unmarked vehicles according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kavitha Babu. Feeling that "something was about to go down," Godinez sprinted through an alley to his home and retrieved a gun, then made his way back up the gangway knowing that it offered perfect cover, Eichenseer said. As the undercover agents walked down the street half a block away, Godinez fired off five rounds in their direction then ran back to his house and texted his girlfriend to come pick him up. When he got in the car, Godinez was sweating and out of breath. Defense attorney Lawrence Hyman used his closing argument to point out a person in a white shirt who also appeared on surveillance video. One of the ATF agents at the scene the night of the shooting testified that after the shooting started, he turned and saw "an individual with a white shirt down the block." Hyman also told jurors that Godinez had stashed his marijuana in a trap house in the gangway and ran away after the shooting began. "He did not fire a gun at all," Hyman said. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kavitha Babu called the idea of a mystery shooter in a white shirt a "distraction." That person appeared on the surveillance video nearly a half-hour before the shooting, she said. Five fresh bullet casings were found in the gangway, from which the shooter would have had a clear shot at the ATF agent, prosecutors said. A ShotSpotter sensor also indicated that the shots came from the gangway. Prosecutors said a bullet entered ATF agent Kevin Crump’s neck and exited between his eyes. Crump suffered permanent damage to his vision, no longer had tear ducts in his left eye, and sustained nerve damage on the left side of his face. Crump, who testified last week, needed several reconstructive surgeries including steel mesh and titanium implants to repair his injuries. Godinez faced up to 20 years in prison for the assault conviction, and a minimum of 10 additional years for the firearm conviction. On December 4, 2019, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber sentenced Godinez to 16 years and 8 months in prison. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Valentine's Day Massacre</span> 1929 gang shooting in Chicago

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago, garage on the morning of February 14, 1929. They were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants, two of whom were disguised as police officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives</span> U.S. law enforcement agency

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives; acts of arson and bombings; and illegal trafficking and tax evasion of alcohol and tobacco products. The ATF also regulates via licensing the sale, possession, and transportation of firearms, ammunition, and explosives in interstate commerce. Many of the ATF's activities are carried out in conjunction with task forces made up of state and local law enforcement officers, such as Project Safe Neighborhoods. The ATF operates a unique fire research laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, where full-scale mock-ups of criminal arson can be reconstructed. The ATF had 5,285 employees and an annual budget of almost $1.5 billion in 2021. The ATF has received criticism over its handling of the Ruby Ridge siege, the Waco siege and other incidents.

Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Chicago Police Department Internal Affairs Division and the Illinois State Police into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County, Illinois. The FBI named the investigation "Operation Greylord" after the curly wigs worn by British judges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shootout</span> Combat between two parties using firearms

A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is an armed confrontation entailing firearms between armed parties using guns, always entailing intense disagreement(s) between the fighting parties. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to describe combat situations primarily using firearms.

The Jungles faction of the Black P. Stones street gang is a "set" of the Bloods gang alliance in Los Angeles. Originating in Los Angeles' Baldwin Village neighborhood in the 1960s, the Black P. Stones became one of the largest gangs in the city. The gang has been linked to various crimes, including murders, assaults, robberies, narcotics violations and firearms violations, and has been the subject of numerous FBI and LAPD investigations.

The Rudaj Organization was an Albanian mafia gang in the New York City metro area, named for the man accused of being its kingpin, Alex Rudaj of Yorktown, New York. The Rudaj Organization, called "The Corporation" by its members, was started in 1993 in Westchester and spread to the Bronx and Queens. Prosecutors say the Albanian gang was headed by Alex Rudaj and an Italian-American man named Nardino Colotti who both had ties to the late Gambino soldier Phil "Skinny" Loscalzo.

Jay Anthony "Jaybird" Dobyns is a retired Special Agent and veteran undercover operative with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), author, public speaker, high school football coach, and University of Arizona adjunct professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Alvarez</span> American politician

Anita M. Alvarez is the former State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, United States. Alvarez was the first Hispanic woman elected to this position, after being the first Latina to win the Democratic nomination for state's attorney of Cook County.

William "Billy" Queen Jr. is a retired undercover agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the author of the bestselling books Under and Alone and Armed and Dangerous.

La Raza is a street gang founded in Chicago in 1973. Their colors are green, white, and red. Their symbols include the Mexican flag, cross, and a six-point star.

The Spanish Cobras is a primarily Latino street gang, present in multiple states throughout the Midwestern United States, with a strong presence on the north and west sides of Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Crump</span> American lawyer (born 1969)

Benjamin Lloyd Crump is an American attorney who specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases such as wrongful death lawsuits. His practice has focused on cases such as those of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson, Randy Cox, and Tyre Nichols, people affected by the Flint water crisis, the estate of Henrietta Lacks, and the plaintiffs behind the 2019 Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit alleging the company's talcum powder product led to ovarian cancer diagnoses. Crump is also founder of the firm Ben Crump Law of Tallahassee, Florida.

Menace of Destruction (MOD), formerly known as Masters of Destruction, is a Hmong street gang created in 1988. Today, it is active in California, Midwestern United States and many places with large Hmong communities. It is known for murders, fights, shootings, and weapon and drug trafficking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Laquan McDonald</span> 2014 police murder of a black teenager in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The murder of Laquan McDonald took place on October 20, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. McDonald was a 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a Chicago Police Officer, Jason Van Dyke. Police had initially reported that McDonald was behaving erratically while walking down the street, refusing to put down a knife, and that he had lunged at officers. Preliminary internal police reports described the incident similarly, leading to the shooting being judged as justifiable, and Van Dyke not being charged at the time. This was later disproved after a video of the encounter was released, showing that McDonald was walking away.

Joseph Miedzianowski is a former Chicago Police Department officer who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for racketeering and drug conspiracy. He is known as Chicago's "most corrupt cop" for his part in a cocaine sales ring with street gang members and other corrupt police officers. During his 22-year police career he received 59 citations for valor and arrests and was publicly praised for his high number of drug and illegal weapon busts. During this time he was also secretly leaking the identity of undercover police officers to gang members, extorting protection money from drug organizations, distributing crack cocaine, and supplying gang members with ammunition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gangs in Chicago</span> Gang activities in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Chicago is considered the most gang-occupied city in the United States, with 150,000 gang-affiliated tenants, representing more than 100 gangs. Gang warfare and retaliation are common in Chicago. Gangs were responsible for 61% of the homicides in Chicago in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of Jacob Blake</span> 2020 police shooting in Kenosha

On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driver's door of an SUV belonging to the mother of his children, and attempted to reach inside. Sheskey said that he believed he was about to be stabbed, since Blake was holding a knife. Earlier during the encounter, Blake had been tasered by two officers, but the tasers failed to disable him and he continued toward the vehicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Adam Toledo</span> 2021 police killing of a thirteen-year-old Latino boy in Chicago, Illinois, United States

On March 29, 2021, Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old Latino American boy, was shot and killed by Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer Eric Stillman in the Little Village neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago at 2:38am local time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Winston Boogie Smith</span> 2021 police killing of a man in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Law enforcement authorities fatally shot Winston Boogie Smith Jr., a 32-year-old black American man, in the Uptown area of Minneapolis at 2:08 p.m. CDT on June 3, 2021. Smith was being pursued by a U.S. Marshals Service task force that apprehends wanted fugitives. The arrest operation had the participation of undercover agents from several local police agencies in Minnesota. The officers did not use body cameras or dashcams when apprehending Smith. Controversy over the lack of law enforcement footage of the arrest operation led to local police agencies ceasing aid to the Marshals Service's fugitive task force, and to changes to body and dash camera policies by the Marshals and other federal law enforcement agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hells Angels MC criminal allegations and incidents in the United States</span>

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is designated an outlaw motorcycle gang by the Department of Justice. Based primarily in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region, the Mid-Atlantic and New England, there are an estimated 92 Hells Angels chapters in 27 U.S. states, with a membership of over 800. Due to the club's designation as a "known criminal organization" by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, the United States has a federal policy prohibiting its foreign members from entering the country. The Hells Angels partake in drug trafficking, gunrunning, extortion, money laundering, insurance fraud, kidnapping, robbery, theft, counterfeiting, contraband smuggling, loan sharking, prostitution, trafficking in stolen goods, motorcycle and motorcycle parts theft, assault, murder, bombings, arson, intimidation and contract killing. The club's role in the narcotics trade involves the production, transportation and distribution of marijuana and methamphetamine, in addition to the transportation and distribution of cocaine, hashish, heroin, LSD, MDMA, PCP and diverted pharmaceuticals. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the HAMC may earn up to $1 billion in drug sales annually.

References

  1. ↑ Steve Mills and Diego Bunuel, "Small Gang's Big Grip Troubles Neighborhood: The Saints Have Grown More Violent And More Diverse Since Forming In The 1960s.", Chicago Tribune, February 11, 1998, Sec. Metro, Pg. 1. Article abstract, full article
  2. ↑ "Lake County, Illinois- Juvenile Justice Council webpage on gang affiliations". Archived from the original on March 9, 2006.
  3. ↑ Did Someone Tell This Child To Kill?
  4. ↑ "Extranews.net". www.extranews.net. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007.
  5. ↑ "abc7chicago.com: Last fugitives surrender after escaping Cook County Jail 3/03/06". Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  6. ↑ "Ernesto Godinez Convicted Of Shooting Undercover ATF Agent In Back Of The Yards Ambush". June 18, 2019.
  7. ↑ Sorace, Stephen (May 5, 2018). "Shooting of ATF agent in Chicago prompts manhunt for suspect, $61G reward offer". Fox News.
  8. ↑ Goudie, Chuck; Markoff, Barb; Tressel, Christine; Weidner, Ross (May 8, 2018). "First arrest photo of ATF Chicago shooting suspect". ABC7 Chicago.
  9. ↑ "Chicago gang member gets 16 years in shooting of ATF agent". AP NEWS. December 5, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Ernesto Godinez Sentenced To 16 Years 8 Months For Shooting Of ATF Agent Kevin Crumb". December 4, 2019.
  11. ↑ Seidel, Jon (June 17, 2019). "Jurors convict man of shooting ATF agent". Chicago Sun-Times.
  12. ↑ "Almighty Saints Gang Leader Charged in Shooting of ATF Agent". May 8, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Suspect in Chicago 'ambush' shooting of ATF agent arrested, charged after 'covert' operation". 13newsnow.com.
  14. ↑ Meisner, Jason (17 May 2018). "Prosecutor: Reputed gang member indicted in shooting of ATF agent was looking for rivals that day". chicagotribune.com.
  15. ↑ Gorner, Jeremy; Buckley, Madeline (4 May 2018). "ATF agent is 4th officer shot in Back of the Yards in a year: 'You will not get away with this'". chicagotribune.com.
  16. ↑ Meisner, Jason (17 June 2019). "Jury convicts gang member in shooting of federal agent on South Side last year". chicagotribune.com.
  17. ↑ Meisner, Jason (11 June 2019). "Gang member shot plainclothes ATF agent, mistaking him for a rival, prosecutors say as trial opens". chicagotribune.com.
  18. ↑ Buckley, Madeline (4 December 2019). "ATF agent shot in head recounts ordeal as reputed gang chief given lengthy prison term. 'I assumed any moment I would lose consciousness and might not wake up.'". chicagotribune.com.
  19. ↑ Meisner, Jason (22 May 2018). "Reputed gang member charged in shooting of ATF agent pleads not guilty". chicagotribune.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.