Week in Review—Hammond

HAMMOND, IN—The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following activity in federal court:

Gabriel Jalomos, 25, of Chicago, Illinois, a defendant in the case U.S. v Vargas et al., was sentenced by Senior District Judge Rudy Lozano to 240 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity and, in a separate matter, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and marijuana and the robbery of a 7-Eleven store in Hammond, Indiana. According to the indictment charging racketeering, Jalomos is a member of the Latin Kings, which is a nationwide gang that originated in Chicago and has branched out throughout the United States, including to Texas. The indictment also alleged that the Latin Kings gang was responsible for at least 19 murders in the Chicago/Northwest Indiana area and Big Spring, Texas.

These charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Immigration and Custom Office of Homeland Security Investigations; the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement & Coordination Center; the National Gang Intelligence Center; the Chicago Police Department; the East Chicago Police Department; the Griffith Police Department; the Hammond Police Department; the Highland Police Department; and the Houston Police Department. The investigation of the Chicago Police Department officers was conducted by Chicago City Public Corruption Task Force, a Chicago Police Department- Internal Affairs and FBI-Chicago law enforcement initiative. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Nozick, and Joseph A. Cooley, Trial Attorney, United States Department of Justice-Organized Crime and Gang Unit.