Drizzt
Member
ATF grabs grenades
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By Mike Cetera
STAFF WRITER
AURORA — Eight men were arrested Thursday on state and federal weapons and drug charges, including a man authorities said supplied street gang members with illegal firearms.
Two additional suspects were charged, but remained at large after simultaneous raids law enforcement officials said were the culmination of a 10-month investigation of the Insane Dueces street gang in Aurora.
The third in a series of federal raids within the past six months, the investigation centered on illegal firearms the gang used with "flagrant propensity" to accomplish its criminal activities, federal and local officials said. Authorities seized about 30 guns and several hand grenades during the course of the investigation, according to Thomas Ahern, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Officials said all but one of the men charged is a member of the Insane Dueces, an Aurora gang established more than a decade ago that has about 60 members.
Authorities accused 43-year-old Donald Bryant of selling the gang members weapons. Bryant faces federal charges of dealing firearms without a license and selling firearms to felons.
"If you illegally sell guns or you supply guns to gang members, to me those individuals are just as guilty as the people that are perpetrating the violence," Aurora Police Chief William Lawler said. "They're just as guilty as the people that are pulling the triggers."
As many as 75 ATF agents and nearly two dozen Aurora police officers led the early morning raids in and around Aurora, executing search warrants obtained based on informant interviews, surveillance and undercover purchases of firearms and cocaine, officials said. Agents electronically recorded gang members participating in various illegal activities.
The ongoing case could result in the additional arrests of 10 or more gang members, Ahern said.
Lawler promised more multi-agency investigations targeting street gangs within the city, similar to those that led to the most recent arrests and multiple raids last year. Two FBI-led investigations in 2002 resulted in federal drug charges against 30 Latin Kings gang members or associates.
"There are others that are doing business," Lawler said. "The pressure will still be on them. We will make sure that we are continually diligent to try to break these operations up."
On Thursday, federal weapons and drug charges were filed against Fernando Delatorre, 19; John Landeros, 34; Miguel Martinez, 24; Michael Ovalle, 23; Miguel Rodriguez, 35; and Julian Salazar, 26.
They each face sentences of five to 15 years in federal prison if convicted. A federal magistrate ordered them held pending their next court date, scheduled for next week, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said.
State weapons and drug charges were filed against Matthew Quigley, 17, Jerry Foster, 40, and Amado Martinez, 22.
Foster faces a sentence of six to 30 years in prison if convicted of delivering 28.1 grams of cocaine. Martinez could receive one to three years and Quigley could receive one to five years, officials said.
Amado and Miguel Martinez, who authorities said are brothers, remained at large and are considered fugitives.
"We just felt that we needed to act now on the individuals arrested because of the possibility of violence," Ahern said.
The federal government's investigation relied, in part, on an unnamed member of the Insane Dueces who became an informant after a May 2002 drug arrest, according to federal affidavits unsealed Thursday.
The informant purchased thousands of dollars in drugs and weapons from several of the men arrested, ATF agents wrote in affidavits. The transactions were recorded and agents conducted surveillance.
In October 2002, the informant told agents he had met a man later identified as Bryant who sold weapons to gang members in Aurora. At the man's home, Bryant offered an array of weapons for sale and admitted to selling more than 30 firearms to gang members recently, according to the affidavit.
Bryant, according to the federal court documents, also showed a grenade to the informant and said "he had used a similar grenade to blow up an attorney's automobile" because he was angry. The man also had a grenade launcher.
Bryant said that, when he obtained some more grenades, he would sell them for $1,000 a piece, according to the affidavit.
A federal search warrant of Bryant's residence was executed on Dec. 20, court records show. Seized were 17 firearms, a 37 mm flare launcher, thousands of rounds of ammunition and more than $3,300 in cash.
In another instance, authorities allege Delatorre ordered the informant to throw two guns used in previous crimes into the Fox River. The informant turned the weapons over to federal agents.
Also named in the affidavits was a business authorities allege was tied to the gang and drug sales. The informant picked up cocaine at a car-leasing business in the 100 block of South River Street, court records show.
Several of the men arrested have prior criminal records, which led to increased charges of weapons possession by a felon.
Landeros was convicted of a 1986 armed robbery; Salazar was convicted of possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 1996 and aggravated discharge of a firearm in 1998; Rodriguez was convicted of armed violence in 1989 and 1993; Ovalle was convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance in 2002; Miguel Martinez was convicted of marijuana possession in 1998 and possession of a controlled substance in 2000.
"Those of us here today vow to end the proliferation of gang activity, gun violence and drug trafficking and the profit gained from such illegal activities by pooling our resources and our manpower, while calling on law-abiding citizens to partner with us in this effort," said Andy Anderson, ATF assistant special agent in charge of the Chicago field division.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/top/a31bust.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mike Cetera
STAFF WRITER
AURORA — Eight men were arrested Thursday on state and federal weapons and drug charges, including a man authorities said supplied street gang members with illegal firearms.
Two additional suspects were charged, but remained at large after simultaneous raids law enforcement officials said were the culmination of a 10-month investigation of the Insane Dueces street gang in Aurora.
The third in a series of federal raids within the past six months, the investigation centered on illegal firearms the gang used with "flagrant propensity" to accomplish its criminal activities, federal and local officials said. Authorities seized about 30 guns and several hand grenades during the course of the investigation, according to Thomas Ahern, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Officials said all but one of the men charged is a member of the Insane Dueces, an Aurora gang established more than a decade ago that has about 60 members.
Authorities accused 43-year-old Donald Bryant of selling the gang members weapons. Bryant faces federal charges of dealing firearms without a license and selling firearms to felons.
"If you illegally sell guns or you supply guns to gang members, to me those individuals are just as guilty as the people that are perpetrating the violence," Aurora Police Chief William Lawler said. "They're just as guilty as the people that are pulling the triggers."
As many as 75 ATF agents and nearly two dozen Aurora police officers led the early morning raids in and around Aurora, executing search warrants obtained based on informant interviews, surveillance and undercover purchases of firearms and cocaine, officials said. Agents electronically recorded gang members participating in various illegal activities.
The ongoing case could result in the additional arrests of 10 or more gang members, Ahern said.
Lawler promised more multi-agency investigations targeting street gangs within the city, similar to those that led to the most recent arrests and multiple raids last year. Two FBI-led investigations in 2002 resulted in federal drug charges against 30 Latin Kings gang members or associates.
"There are others that are doing business," Lawler said. "The pressure will still be on them. We will make sure that we are continually diligent to try to break these operations up."
On Thursday, federal weapons and drug charges were filed against Fernando Delatorre, 19; John Landeros, 34; Miguel Martinez, 24; Michael Ovalle, 23; Miguel Rodriguez, 35; and Julian Salazar, 26.
They each face sentences of five to 15 years in federal prison if convicted. A federal magistrate ordered them held pending their next court date, scheduled for next week, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said.
State weapons and drug charges were filed against Matthew Quigley, 17, Jerry Foster, 40, and Amado Martinez, 22.
Foster faces a sentence of six to 30 years in prison if convicted of delivering 28.1 grams of cocaine. Martinez could receive one to three years and Quigley could receive one to five years, officials said.
Amado and Miguel Martinez, who authorities said are brothers, remained at large and are considered fugitives.
"We just felt that we needed to act now on the individuals arrested because of the possibility of violence," Ahern said.
The federal government's investigation relied, in part, on an unnamed member of the Insane Dueces who became an informant after a May 2002 drug arrest, according to federal affidavits unsealed Thursday.
The informant purchased thousands of dollars in drugs and weapons from several of the men arrested, ATF agents wrote in affidavits. The transactions were recorded and agents conducted surveillance.
In October 2002, the informant told agents he had met a man later identified as Bryant who sold weapons to gang members in Aurora. At the man's home, Bryant offered an array of weapons for sale and admitted to selling more than 30 firearms to gang members recently, according to the affidavit.
Bryant, according to the federal court documents, also showed a grenade to the informant and said "he had used a similar grenade to blow up an attorney's automobile" because he was angry. The man also had a grenade launcher.
Bryant said that, when he obtained some more grenades, he would sell them for $1,000 a piece, according to the affidavit.
A federal search warrant of Bryant's residence was executed on Dec. 20, court records show. Seized were 17 firearms, a 37 mm flare launcher, thousands of rounds of ammunition and more than $3,300 in cash.
In another instance, authorities allege Delatorre ordered the informant to throw two guns used in previous crimes into the Fox River. The informant turned the weapons over to federal agents.
Also named in the affidavits was a business authorities allege was tied to the gang and drug sales. The informant picked up cocaine at a car-leasing business in the 100 block of South River Street, court records show.
Several of the men arrested have prior criminal records, which led to increased charges of weapons possession by a felon.
Landeros was convicted of a 1986 armed robbery; Salazar was convicted of possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 1996 and aggravated discharge of a firearm in 1998; Rodriguez was convicted of armed violence in 1989 and 1993; Ovalle was convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance in 2002; Miguel Martinez was convicted of marijuana possession in 1998 and possession of a controlled substance in 2000.
"Those of us here today vow to end the proliferation of gang activity, gun violence and drug trafficking and the profit gained from such illegal activities by pooling our resources and our manpower, while calling on law-abiding citizens to partner with us in this effort," said Andy Anderson, ATF assistant special agent in charge of the Chicago field division.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/top/a31bust.htm