Reward Offered in Search for Chicago Gang Fugtive

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was joined today by Garry F. McCarthy, Acting Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), in asking for the public’s help in locating COREY GRIFFIN, age 40, whose last known address was 12 South Mayfield Avenue in Chicago. In making this appeal for assistance, Mr. Grant noted that a reward of up to $10,000 was being offered for information leading to Griffin’s arrest.

GRIFFIN has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG), since November of last year, when he was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of federal drug laws.

GRIFFIN and 95 others, all known or suspected members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, were charged with drug violations in a combined federal and state investigation, code named Operation Blue Knight, which culminated with the arrest of 70 individuals. GRIFFIN, however, was one of nearly two dozen defendants in this case who avoided capture and is still at-large.

GRIFFIN, also known as “Fat Rat,” is described as a black male, 40 years of age, 5’9” tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes with a short beard and mustache and a tattoo on his left arm of crossed paths with angels. Due to his criminal record and the nature of the charges filed against him, GRIFFIN should be considered ARMED and DANGEROUS.

Anyone recognizing GRIFFIN or having any information as to his current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.

The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Copies of the federal criminal complaint filed in this case and additional copies of the below wanted flyer are available from the Chicago FBI’s Press Office at (312) 829-1199.