Member of Violent Chicago Street Gang Sentenced to 50 Years in Federal Prison

CHICAGO — A member of a violent Chicago street gang has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for participating in a criminal organization that murdered rivals and violently protected a drug-dealing operation on the West Side of Chicago.

As a member of the Wicked Town faction of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, DAVID ARRINGTON murdered two people, shot and wounded two others, and served as the driver when fellow gang members murdered a man and attempted to murder another.  Arrington, 33, of Chicago, pleaded guilty last year to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge.  U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin sentenced Arrington after a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.

Arrington was among 13 defendants convicted as part of a multi-year investigation into the gang’s criminal activities.  The investigation resulted in the seizures of more than 45 firearms, approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition, approximately 17 kilograms of cocaine, approximately seven kilograms of heroin, and approximately 100 grams of crack cocaine.  The federal probe revealed that Wicked Town gang members engaged in numerous acts of violence, including Arrington’s two murders and at least 17 others, as well as numerous attempted murders, armed robberies, and assaults.  Wicked Town members regularly promoted their violent enterprise on social media, where they taunted rivals and boasted about murders and other acts of violence.

The gang operated primarily in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, where members maintained “trap houses” to store firearms and illegal narcotics, including cocaine and heroin.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and Fred Waller, Interim Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  Substantial assistance was provided by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Illinois State Police, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, and the Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program (HIDTA).  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John D. Mitchell, Jimmy L. Arce, Meghan C. Morrissey, and Beth E. Palmer.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against alleged criminal networks.