E.C. man enters guilty plea in Imperial Gangsters case

EAST CHICAGO | An alleged member of the Imperial Gangsters street gang pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring with other gang members to commit racketeering offenses, court records show.

Latin Kings gang member gets 20 years for dealing drugs, racketeering

HAMMOND | An admitted member of the Latin Kings street gang was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison as part of a sweeping racketeering case.

Pence signs school safety grants, 40 other measures into law

INDIANAPOLIS | School corporations can each seek up to $50,000 in matching state funds to hire local police as school resource officers under a new law signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

Sheriff's dept. sweep through south suburbs nets guns, revoked FOID cards

A Cook County Sheriff's Police Department sweep through the south suburbs this week ended in more than 22 arrests and the recovery of weapons and revoked FOID cards.

Chicago schools consult gang lines in closure plan

CHICAGO | The Rev. Robin Hood stands in front of an elementary school in what's known as "The Holy City" — the Chicago neighborhood where the notorious Vice Lords street gang got its start decades ago and still one of the city's most dangerous areas. Half a block away, a group of men hang ou…

Chicago schools consult gang lines in closure plan

Children leave Dvorak Technology Academy in Chicago at the end of classes on April 3. While the school serves as a safe haven for children during classroom hours, their journeys to and from home during the school year are subject to peril as they cross gang borders that divide Chicago's neig…

Chicago schools consult gang lines in closure plan

The Rev. Robin Hood devotes time to ensure the safety of students at schools on Chicago's South Side. Hood works with organizations such as Mothers Opposed to Violence Everywhere and the anti-violence group CeaseFire to ensure that students and staff get to and from North Lawndale’s schools …

Region man gets 20 years for his role in Imperial Gangsters

HAMMOND | Robert Lockhart was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for his participation in the Imperial Gangsters, federal court records show.

Mayors, clean up own cities before advising others

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, like the other weasels from Chicago and New York, should clean up their gang problem and find out who sells guns to the gangs before they try to put restrictions on the whole country and try and control law-abiding citizens' rights or shut their big mouths!

Parents are root of problem with troubled teens

This is a very bad situation with no end in sight until the parents of these gang members start doing their parental duties. It starts at home!

FBI seeks public's help locating fugitive Latin King

MERRILLVILLE | The FBI is seeking the public's help in locating a Latin Kings gang member under federal indictment on multiple drug conspiracy charges.

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

Curtis Toler watches his team participate in a basketball tournament for reputed gang members and associates on Dec. 17 at the St. Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Toler, 35, a former gang member and father of four, spent much of his life cau…

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

Carlos Nelson, head of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp., talks about the troubled neighborhood's future on Chicago's South Side. Nelson, a 49-year-old engineering graduate raised in Gresham, sees changes since he was a kid, most notably the easy access to guns. "These aren't six-…

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

A lone cross stands in a vacant lot on the corner of 79th and Loomis in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Up to 80 percent of Chicago's murders and shootings are gang-related, according to police. By one estimate, the city has almost 70,000 gang members. A police audit…

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

The Rev. Mike Pfleger, of the St. Sabina Catholic Church, speaks with a young man on Dec. 17 during a weekly basketball tournament at the church gym where rival gangs can play in a 12-week basketball league instead of walking the streets in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago's South …

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

Two boys walk past Christmas decorations on Dec. 3 in the barred window of a business along 79th Street in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The violence in 2012 has gripped a handful of neighborhoods, including Auburn-Greshman, where the police district's 43 homicides…

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

CHICAGO | It was February, the middle of lunch hour on a busy South Side street. The gunman approached his victim in a White Castle parking lot, shot him in the head, then fled down an alley.

Hammond man admits to role in Imperial Gangsters activities

HAMMOND | A Hammond man agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to conspiracy to participate in racketeering for his involvement in Imperial Gangsters street gang activities, federal court records show.

East Chicago gangs press conference

EAST CHICAGO | United States Attorney David Capp, left, looks on as FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Jones addresses members of the media Friday.

Indictment charges eight additional suspected gang members

East Chicago Police Chief Mark Becker, left, listens as U.S. Attorney David Capp announces a federal indictment against eight suspected Imperial Gangsters during a news conference Friday at the East Chicago Police Department.