Friday, November 9, 2012
COPS SWEEP AWAY VICE LORD & GANGSTER DISCIPLE
Chicago Police recently executed search warrants and conducted a coordinated round-up of Vice Lord and Gangster Disciple street gang members operating a lucrative narcotics sales conspiracy at and around California Avenue & Jackson Boulevard on Chicago’s West Side. The mission was launched because of increasing incidents of gun violence in the neighborhood related to the narcotics sales.
Narcotics Division officers, with assistance from the 11th District, took 17 of 22 targets into custody. Police recovered a quantity of heroin, crack cocaine, and cannabis, plus approximately $1,000 in cash. During the course of the investigation, police conducted covert video surveillance and made undercover controlled narcotics purchases from targets of the mission. Several of the narcotics buys took place within 1,000 feet of a school in the community.
Charges against targeted offenders include drug-related crimes, including Delivery of a Controlled Substance and Delivery of Cannabis. Chicago Police continue to seek additional identified offenders and the investigation remains ongoing.
If it’s something’ weird an’ it don’t look good, Who ya gonna call? GANGBUSTERS!
Declaring “Gang and narcotics activity plays a large role in the violence in our communities,” Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy unleashed gangbusters on the neighborhood of Maypole & Leamington Avenues in Chicago’s Austin community. Narcotics Division officers arrested 14 targeted offenders and the investigation remains ongoing.
Superintendent McCarthy emphasizes that profits from drug sales buy guns used by gangbangers committing the violence that has driven this year’s murder rate above last year’s. “We will be relentless in our pursuit of those engaging in such activities,” McCarthy pledges.
The 4 Corner Hustlers street gang, blamed for a recent plague of violence, controls narcotics sales in the area of Leamington & Maypole.
“Drug markets diminish the quality of life in our communities and it is our mission to dismantle these drug markets and put the perpetrators in jail,” declares Narcotics Division Commander James O’Grady.
Surveillance and numerous undercover narcotics buys enabled officers to identify 18 targets responsible for the sale of narcotics at this location. Additionally, police executed five search warrants. A majority of the identified targets are documented gang members, including nine convicted felons and one parolee. Fourteen are in custody.
During the course of their investigation, Narcotics Division officers, working with the assistance of the Austin District and a Gang Enforcement Team, seized quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, and cannabis with a total estimated street value of nearly $20,000. Also taken in the sweep were a firearm, two vehicles, and cash.
Charges against offenders include Delivery of a Controlled Substance and Delivery of Cannabis. Police are seeking additional identified offenders as the investigation continues.
Austin Commander Barbara West is maintaining increased patrols around Maypole & Leamington to prevent gang members from re-establishing drug sales at this location.
MEMORIAL SERVICE HELD TO CELEBRATE LIFE OF MARY ELLA “GYPSY” MOORE
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She was born May 7, 1956, to Joseph Moore, Sr., and Dorothy Bellamy Moore in Ashtabula, Ohio, the third of eight children. The family moved to Chicago in 1962 when she was 6. She graduated from Mulligan Elementary and attended Crane High School.
In 1979, she was introduced to the world of fashion. She described herself as “a baldhead girl who wore scarves and big earrings,” earning her the nickname “Gypsy.”
She became an entrepreneurial designer of leather clothing and accessories, including belts and jewelry. In 1993, after 15 years of designing and selling her own creations, Gypsy launched a project teaching leather crafts to children of Bethel New Life, Franklin Park, Agape Youth Center, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Homan Square, Garfield Park, and LaFollette Park. She operated a shop selling her creations and taking orders for custom items in the lower level of Homan Square.
In 2003, she became Executive Director of Third Gear Youth Leadership Organization, the foundation established by her son, NBA Basketball player Linton Johnson III. The goal was to assist children to succeed in their journey through life.
ANGRY AUSTINITES PROTEST US BANK CLOSING DIVISION STREET BRANCH
US Bank enraged senior citizens living at Beth-Anne Residence, citizens of North Austin, and elected officials for its unilateral decision to close its branch in the professional office building at 4909 West Division Street. The branch is located adjacent to the Beth-Anne senior residential apartments and assisted care facility. Many of the residents do not have cars or are handicapped, restricting their ability to travel and conduct their banking. The US Bank branch is also convenient for residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
US Bank announced there is insufficient business at the branch to warrant keeping it open. The branch is slated to close November 16. The closest US Bank branches are located at Madison Street & Austin Boulevard and North Avenue & Austin, over a mile away from the Division Street branch.
A loud demonstration at the branch was held October 13, organized by Northwest Austin Council, local clergy, Alderman Emma Mitts, and Beth-Anne seniors. Alderman Mitts complained that US Bank officials were disrespecting her and her constituents by refusing to return her calls to discuss the matter.
A Beth-Anne resident waved a stack of petitions with signatures she collected protesting the bank closure. Former newspaper publisher and civil rights activist Chuck Harris quoted W.E.B. DuBois and declared US Bank’s action to be “pure and simply racist!”
Stephen Robinson, Executive Director of Northwest Austin Council, and Alderman Emma Mitts urged US Bank customers to close their accounts. “If they are abandoning us, we will abandon them,” Mitts declared.
Several years ago, an official of US Bank told THE VOICE Newspapers that US Bank never wanted branches in Chicago’s West Side African American Austin community, but that they built the branch at Madison & Laramie only to win approval from banking regulators to open a US Bank facility in the Loop.
US Bank also earned the wrath of Austin leaders when Park National Bank was closed and given to US Bank, which had no history of serving urban and minority communities. US Bank refuses to advertise its services in local African American newspapers.
State Representative La Shawn K. Ford tells THE VOICE Newspapers that the credit union with an office in the Division Street building has signed a lease for the US Bank space. However, the credit union has sporadic hours, also refuses to advertise its services, and community leaders say it is too small and limited to effectively replace a real bank.
US Bank announced there is insufficient business at the branch to warrant keeping it open. The branch is slated to close November 16. The closest US Bank branches are located at Madison Street & Austin Boulevard and North Avenue & Austin, over a mile away from the Division Street branch.
A loud demonstration at the branch was held October 13, organized by Northwest Austin Council, local clergy, Alderman Emma Mitts, and Beth-Anne seniors. Alderman Mitts complained that US Bank officials were disrespecting her and her constituents by refusing to return her calls to discuss the matter.
A Beth-Anne resident waved a stack of petitions with signatures she collected protesting the bank closure. Former newspaper publisher and civil rights activist Chuck Harris quoted W.E.B. DuBois and declared US Bank’s action to be “pure and simply racist!”
Stephen Robinson, Executive Director of Northwest Austin Council, and Alderman Emma Mitts urged US Bank customers to close their accounts. “If they are abandoning us, we will abandon them,” Mitts declared.
Several years ago, an official of US Bank told THE VOICE Newspapers that US Bank never wanted branches in Chicago’s West Side African American Austin community, but that they built the branch at Madison & Laramie only to win approval from banking regulators to open a US Bank facility in the Loop.
US Bank also earned the wrath of Austin leaders when Park National Bank was closed and given to US Bank, which had no history of serving urban and minority communities. US Bank refuses to advertise its services in local African American newspapers.
State Representative La Shawn K. Ford tells THE VOICE Newspapers that the credit union with an office in the Division Street building has signed a lease for the US Bank space. However, the credit union has sporadic hours, also refuses to advertise its services, and community leaders say it is too small and limited to effectively replace a real bank.