27 charged in West Side drug market
17
BY BECKY SCHLIKERMAN Staff Reporter June 12, 2014 2:04PM
Updated: June 12, 2014 2:04PM

Twenty-seven people have been charged with selling heroin and crack cocaine on Chicago’s West Side, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Thursday in a news release.

The charges were brought by both state and federal authorities, according to the news release.

Local law enforcement, including U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and officials from the Chicago Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration planned to hold a 2 p.m. press conference to discuss the case.

The nearly yearlong investigation into the drug market on the West Side resulted in federal charges against 14 people and state charges against 13. Authorities began their arrests this morning.

Eight handguns, an AR-15 assault rifle, about $140,000 and about a half-kilo of heroin and some cocaine were seized Thursday during the arrests.

Among the 27 charged is a leader of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang, which authorities said controlled the distribution of drugs near Douglas Park.

Kenneth Shoulders, 47, allegedly controlled the corners and assigned individuals to run them. Those people then “further delegated distribution to shift workers who sold heroin and crack cocaine throughout the day,” according to the press release.

A cooperating individual told authorities last year that Shoulders is “a high-ranking member of the Conservative Vice Lords who controlled all of the Vice Lords and drug operations in the area known as ‘12th Street’ north of Roosevelt Road between the 1100 and 1200 blocks,” according to the press release.

The cooperator, an admitted member of the 12th Street faction of the Traveling Vice Lords, said the gang consists primarily of Conservative Vice Lord members but also members of the Traveling Vice Lords, Black Souls Nation, Gangster Disciples and New Breed street gang.

“The non-Vice Lord members are mostly ‘pack workers’ or street-level drug dealers who have no direct allegiance to the 12th Street Vice Lords other than making money from selling drugs within the 12th Street territory,” according to the press release.

The federal court documents allege that Shoulders was a “wholesale supplier of heroin.”

And it appears it was a family affair. Among his co-workers were his sister, Sandra “Penny” Shoulders, 49, of Chicago and his son, Kenneth “Lil’ Kenny” Williams, 29, of Chicago.

Another cooperator told authorities that Williams allegedly managed his father’s heroin distribution at the corner of West Fillmore and South Francisco. A man charged in Cook County, Charles Weathersby, 31, allegedly managed Shoulders’ crack cocaine distribution from that same corner.

The Shoulders drug trafficking organization operated from the main stash house at 211 South Lavergne, along with locations at 2902 and 2950 West Fillmore, and 1107 South Mozart, according to authorities.

“Other defendants allegedly diluted the heroin to increase profits, shuttled heroin among the various stash and retail locations, advised Shoulders when a new supply was needed and returned his share of the profits to him,” authorities allege. “The Shoulders organization’s heroin was typically packaged in small user-portion plastic bags with either a green dollar sign or a black bomb symbol stamped on them.”

One federal complaint charges nine defendants: Shoulders, Washington, Sandra Shoulders, Williams, Anthony “Mustafa” Hayes, 48; Harrison Hall, 50; Tiara White, 27; Marleana Porter, 20; and Crane Marks, 50. All are from Chicago and are charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute more than a kilogram of heroin, authorities said. If convicted, they each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment and a $10 million fine.

In a separate complaint, Rodney “Bump” Bedenfield, 40, of Chicago, was charged separately with supplying heroin to the Shoulders organization. Marc Davis, 45, of Chicago, is accused of supplying heroin to Bedenfield, and was charged with Queenie Vargas, 25, of Chicago. She’s an alleged courier who transported heroin for Davis. If convicted, these three defendants face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years and a $5 million fine.

Separately, Dorian Miller, 42, of Riverdale, and Jewneus Wilson, 35, of Chicago, are charged separately with buying heroin from Bedenfield. If convicted, they face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Charged by the state, in addition to Weathersby, are Chicagoans Jim Dunbar, 19; Amos Hadley, 61; David Higgs, 37; Deonte Hollingworth, 26; Paris Holmes, 18; John Perry, 26; Nikki Sanders, 21; Milton Taylor, 30; Antwone Washington, 20; Nathaniel Yancey, 21; Shardell Green, 27; and Antwone Henry, 27.

“This case mirrors the trending alignment of Chicago’s street gangs into localized drug-dealing factions, and the investigation is another example of the extraordinary cooperation among the Chicago Police Department, DEA and other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies,” Zachary T. Fardon, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in the news release. “While this case focuses on narcotics trafficking and the complaint does not allege these defendants committed any acts of violence, we believe that bringing serious charges such as these is an effective tool in reducing violence in our communities.”

The federal defendants are scheduled to appear in court later this afternoon.

another example of how fucked up chicago mobs are

this guy is actually a boss and only controls 12 blocks

"conservative" vice lords?

fiscal or social?

probably a bit of both.

@ Cookcounty ,

Before you jumped to conclusions I would say he's a high rank leader ( 3 or 5 * branch rank) and also we don't know how much each of those blocks earned. I think he's a branch elite since he oversee a different branch of VLs and the Souls, Breeds, Gs clique up with them for profits. Of course that indicate they paid up to the hierarchy.

@ Gets,

It's mostly social and goes back to their legitimacy years as a community group.

@ Scorsese,

Good post, the affidavit is quite lengthy at 163 pages.

Blacks...

^^^^^^^^^^



Someone have an Obsession

Aussie keep showing your "Love"

I'm just hating

Just
Keep
Loving
It

@blackfamily

buddy was one of the VL's highest bosses on the the street

they talked about how it would've taken them longer to catch him n the past

they said he outranked all VL's in his area, not just other cvl's

he only had 12 blocks which goes to show how hierarchies are in the past

Black gangsters are boring.

@Aussie

You really don't give up, do you?

Not when I'm extremely bored lol

May I provide you with a solution to your boredom: I think Stormfront might be a forum that will entirely fulfill your needs

@ killing joke

You open the door and I give him the kangaroo kick

That sounds like a U.E ( you know what I mean) rank to me then; 5 * since he outrank everybody else. But he isn't the only Conservative of that rank throughout the West Side.

What I want to clarify on the quantity of blocks is that we don't know how long he control his area. Also, the number of blocks vary for leadership and depending on your opinion what's an average number for a leader.

I think this was the previous bust on the CVLs up until now:


May 10, 2001

Surrounded by the spoils of the drug trade--luxury automobiles, jewelry, cash and a small arsenal--Chicago police Wednesday said they had broken one of the West Side's largest white heroin operations with the arrests of several drug and gang leaders.

The 8-month investigation included FBI and IRS agents and was launched in North Lawndale last fall after the slaying of a leader of the Conservative Vice Lords, a faction of one of the city's largest street gangs.

In all, police have arrested 14 people, and warrants have been issued for three more suspects. All have been charged with criminal drug conspiracy, which carries a mandatory sentence of 6 to 30 years in prison, said Cmdr. Eugene Williams of the Narcotics and Gang Investigations Section.

Listed as the key arrests were Reginald Smith, 29, who police say was the chief supplier of the heroin, and his brother, Marco "Shorty" Smith, 23, who allegedly ran the day-to-day drug sales, totaling about $5 million a year, in the 1600 block of South Harding Avenue.

The others arrested include alleged drug runners as well as men and women who helped store the heroin, package it, and deal it on the streets, police said.

In what police say has become commonplace, the key players in the operation were not all from the same street gang, with dealers "renting" street corners from Conservative Vice Lords boss Elbert "Pierre" Mahone.

Police believe that Marco Smith, for instance, was "blessed" by Mahone to run the heroin operation on South Harding even though Smith belonged to the Black Disciples street gang.

Another suspect, Marques Johnson, 23, is the alleged leader of the Unknown Outlaw Vice Lords. Police said he was allowed to run a smaller heroin operation nearby.

Mahone was kidnapped off the street Sept. 29 near Penn Elementary School at 1616 S. Avers Ave. Police found his body later that day near 26th Street and Komensky Avenue. They believe he was shot by another gang looking for a cut of his lucrative drug business.

At the time of Mahone's death, police said, the operation he gave to Marco Smith along Harding was a $15,000-a-day business.

After his murder, community leaders demanded that police step up their presence in the neighborhood. Of particular concern was an area known as Holy City--bounded by Pulaski Road, Homan Avenue, Douglas Boulevard and Cermak Road--where the Vice Lords Nation had its start.

Increased police patrols helped cut drug sales to about $3,000 a day, police sources said. Of that, about $2,000 a month was allegedly paid to Mahone's widow.
But the potential for violence was still considered high. So police said they began surveillance on Charles Hill, a Gangster Disciple who had a close relationship with Mahone and who was later killed by his own gang. The investigation was run by Sgt. Robert Grapenthien, who in the past has played key roles in federal investigations targeting the Traveling Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples that netted dozens of indictments.

During the surveillance, police learned about Marco Smith's heroin operation and conducted several undercover buys, the sources said. They also learned of Marques Johnson's operation.

Police said the 17 arrests have been made since early May. When alleged drug supplier Reginald Smith was arrested May 3, police seized three vehicles, including a Range Rover with a secret compartment for drugs or weapons, a 2000 Mitsubishi and a 1999 Mercedes with $18,000 inside. Police also seized $111,000 in cash, furs, computers, Jet Skis, motorcycles and Rolex and Cartier watches.

@blackfamily

shoulders is either gonna call it for the lords or be on a council in jail

he only had 12 blocks.......12 blocks ain't shit

so that's a demonstration on how fucked up the streets are as far as hierarchies

Shoulders call the shots for his area, he's not the overall chief of CVLs. It's obvious that CVLs have many blocks in the entire city , so it would of been more than 12 if he called the shots for the entire branch.
Their still are details such as earnings from each block, membership count, and side activities. The fact that there is a hierarchy in place reflects management activity. Your looking at 12 blocks as small but your not looking at quality market.

I was gonna say that, and I don't mean 12sq blocks, a strip of 12 blocks is a lot of space out here. Some of those blocks are doing 5000 easily almost everyday and I'm being conservative here. Either way its nothing to laugh at, and just because he out ranked everyone else doesn't mean he needs a lot of territory, not to mention he had guys from the burbs coming to him too. What I'm confused about is the $, but that's a question that I'll research before I speak on.

a strip of 12 blocks is a lot of space out here. Some of those blocks are doing 5000 easily almost everyday and I'm being conservative here

Precisely. There's varying amount of $ a block earns per day plus the different products ( coke, crake, herion, weed) prices. I think on the low end around $1000 and I agree with the $5000 as an average. Perhaps $3000 , it's a reoccurring figure.

I agree. Also just cause he's the top dog doesn't mean he's gonna have a huge amount of space to control, I would assume that might be an average for the ranking guys and whoever hold rank might get kicks but other than that I don't think there's single individual who has 30 or 40. Plus he's got his crew who each control space on his designated area, and there bosses to the guys under him. I guess what I'm trying to say is him "only" having 12 blocks when he becomes the top guy doesn't mean there's no hierarchy, if anything I think that would prove more that its an organized hierarchical organization with money going up and then out.

@black family and @sgwaue


why do yall insist that chicago organizations are still the same?

the man got appointed boss of his territory over 10 years ago

12 blocks ain't shit, low ranking members used to have 12 blocks

not too mention that cvl's have been phasing out since the 90s

WHATEVER. These groups couldn't function the way they do without hierarchy granted alot of groups are fractured and infighting occurs doesn't mean there not organized. Your putting way to much into a ranking member "only" having 12 blocks and your also underestimating the amount of money they pull in. Like I said there may be a ceiling on the amount of space that comes certin ranks, these gangs have been split and restructured so many times that they learned the more space one has the mors damage gets done when he gets warped up but whatever your just ass-hole who wants to troll so..

@sgwaue86

the new thing in chicago is cliques......not mobs

it's hard to control 100 knuckleheads let alone 6,000 of them

the feds even wrote in the write up that it used to take longer to bring cases in

it used to take longer because people were insulated by hierarchies, now they ain't

Cook ,

Cliques aren't new to the Chi, these groups started like that so how can it be new to the Chi streets? Umbrellas brought them together and structure solidify them then a history of ups & downs, split ups , and regroupings. This isn't new in Chi gangland period, no argue there brother.

It's difficult but not impossible, Black Souls, New Breeds, Mickey Cobras, Most VL branches, Most BDs, Most Stones are managing well. South side GDs are hurting except a few locations.

That would be a valid point but you stated he been in that position for 10 years. A decade of leadership is a long time before Feds busted him. And he isn't the Chief ! So it shouldnt be much longer until the Feds get him since their not so insulation.

@blackfamily

all jokes aside there ain't a damn thing u can tell me about chicago gangs

organizations didn't start as cliques.......cliques are money oriented

it wasn't about money when shit started, and the gd's are the most fragmented of all

"all jokes aside there ain't a damn thing u can tell me about chicago gangs"

Honestly your right in regards with location ( wherever you live in cook county). But there are some of us who network with people from Chicago. Therefore, we both have a line of communications to the streets. So in the same breath I can't tell you and well you can't tell me either.

"organizations didn't start as cliques.......cliques are money oriented"
A clique is a social group or club which is the roots of all these street organizations. I KNOW this because nearly everybody on this forum can recall their high school years. A clique can be focus on anything.

"it wasn't about money when shit started "

So your telling me with names like the 4 Corner Hustlers , Black Gangsters, Supreme Gangsters, and Vice Lords must be one of a kind Boy Scout clubs. Please, 4s been about $$$ since day one, same for the BGs.

@blackfamily


the 4s started in the late 60s/early 70s.......NO THEY WEREN'T ABOUT MONEY

the big drug boom wasn't until the 80s well after all major mobs were formed