CHICAGO | A high-ranking member of a Chicago street gang — who with a former East Chicago man controlled a street narcotics business — has been sentenced to about 28 years in prison, federal authorities said.
Victor Thompson, described by agents as a top member in the Gangster Disciples, received that sentence late Thursday, about three years after pleading guilty to drug conspiracy, according to a statement issued Friday by the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.
Thompson and his "godson," Shawn Denton, 33, formerly of East Chicago, "controlled a high-volume crack cocaine distribution organization and enforced their authority through violence, thefts and robberies," according to the statement.
Denton cooperated with authorities in the drug case and is among eight co-defendants who have either pleaded guilty or been convicted, federal prosecutors said. Denton was sentenced in 2010 to just more than 16 years in federal prison.
Thompson, 51, who had two prior drug convictions and four prior gun convictions, was arrested on the most recent charges in May 2007. Thompson is believed to have been responsible for more distributing more than 13,500 kilograms of crack cocaine, nearly 740 kilograms of heroin and 425,412 kilograms of marijuana between 1997 and 2007, prosecutors said.
Please Wait…