Articles
December 2, 2004
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
The hierarchy of a major street gang was dismantled Wednesday when 150 federal agents and Chicago cops swooped into the Humboldt Park neighborhood and other parts of the city to arrest members of the Maniac Latin Disciples.
Two other gangs, the Black Disciples and the Mafia Insane Vice Lords, also were hit hard by the feds this year, seeing their leaders hauled off to jail, too.
Now 21 members of the Maniac Latin Disciples are charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine since mid-2003.
The top three leaders -- Antonio "Bird" Perez, Fidel "Castro" Hernandez and Richard S. Perez -- were among those named in the complaint.
Fidel Hernandez, who originally cooperated with investigators, is a fugitive, prosecutors said. He served more than six years in prison in connection with a 1996 gang war that left a rival dead. His parole ended in April 2003, records show.
All of the defendants face at least 10 years in prison if convicted.
The Maniac Latin Disciples had bounced back after suffering a blow to their leadership in 2001 when kingpin Thomas Ross and nine other gang members and associates were convicted of drug conspiracy. Ross was sentenced to life in prison.
'Make life miserable' for leaders
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro said prosecutors intend to keep targeting the same gangs with federal charges every time a new leadership structure emerges.
"Our mission is to make life miserable for the leadership," Shapiro said.
FBI agents and Chicago Police cultivated informants within the gang and used wiretaps and hidden recording devices to record their efforts to buy cocaine for their street operations in Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Cicero.
The 120-page affidavit by FBI agent Mailin Chuy also gives a snapshot into the gang's sometimes desperate efforts to obtain guns to protect their drug turf.
"We're running short-handed on them right about now," Richard Perez told a lower-level member June 22, urging him to pick up some guns for the gang.