Threats loom over gang trial; U.S. marshals want Hobos shackled
Paris Poe, a reputed Hobos gang member, is a suspect in the fatal shooting of FBI informant Keith Daniels in 2013.

Jon Seidel

Security threats looming over an impending street-gang trial at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse have prompted U.S. marshals to ask a judge to take the rare step of shackling alleged gang members during their trial.

Among authorities’ concerns are threats that have allegedly been made toward people under U.S. Marshals Service protection in connection with the case, a marshal supervisor told a judge Tuesday. Ken Robinson said the matter is under investigation, and he wouldn’t elaborate in open court.


Seven members of the Hobos street gang, a so-called “super gang” conglomerate of Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples and others, are set to go on trial for a racketeering conspiracy next week in the 14th-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge John Tharp. The feds have tied the gang to at least nine murders and other acts of violence, including the torture of two South Side brothers with an iron.

The trial could last months.

Among the slayings are the 2013 assassination of Keith Daniels, a federal informant allegedly gunned down by Paris Poe, and the 2006 shooting of police informant Wilbert Moore, who was allegedly killed by Poe and Arnold Council. The murders have left federal prosecutors worried about the safety of other witnesses during and after the trial.

Robinson said Tuesday the alleged Hobos should be shackled during the trial because of the charges they face and their disciplinary history while in federal custody. He also told Tharp the marshals won’t have the manpower necessary to simultaneously supervise the alleged gang members and people in the gallery.

“What we cannot account for is the associates that may attend the trial on a daily basis,” Robinson said.

If shackled, the men would wear leg irons covered in duct tape so jurors wouldn’t hear them clinking while the men walk. A skirt would be added to the defense table in Tharp’s courtroom so jurors couldn’t see the shackles, Robinson told the judge.

Tharp has already ruled once in favor of shackles, records show. But defense attorneys asked him to reconsider, arguing “none of these defendants has a history of attacking guards or being disruptive in court.” Steve Greenberg, who represents an alleged Hobo named William Ford, told the judge Tuesday that such a move would be “terribly cruel.”

Federal prosecutors have also persuaded Tharp to select anonymous jurors for the trial, records show, a move typically made in mob or terrorism cases. But Tharp made no ruling on the shackles Tuesday, telling lawyers simply, “this situation will be resolved before the beginning of trial,” which starts Sept. 6.

Meanwhile, federal authorities have restricted access to a courtyard on the east side of the courthouse “to ensure the safety and security of all judges, employees, jurors and visitors to the courthouse.” They announced the move last week but will not say what prompted it.

Hobos ‘super gang’ tied to 9 murders; lengthy trial begins

Jon Seidel

As they planted the seeds of Chicago’s “new breed of street gang” more than a decade ago, its South Side leaders allegedly uttered these simple words: “Man, we Hobo.”

Hobos “just sleep and rob,” they said.

Now, the nickname is inked on the skin of the gang’s elites along with the words, “The Earth Is Our Turf.” But the ruthless and exclusive Hobos crew, an alliance of deadly street gangs forged in the now-demolished Robert Taylor Homes, didn’t stop with robbery, the feds say. Not even close.

Instead, the so-called “super gang” brought a reign of terror down on Chicago’s South and West sides between 2004 and 2013, federal prosecutors say. Its members allegedly held a teen for ransom, tortured suspected drug dealers with an iron, robbed NBA players and even threatened a police officer inside a Cook County courthouse.

Most significantly, the Hobos are accused of committing nine murders — among them the slayings of informants Keith Daniels and Wilbert Moore. But now, prosecutors are set to put seven Hobos on trial for racketeering Wednesday, including undisputed leader Gregory “Bowlegs” Chester and alleged assassin Paris “Poleroski” Poe.


The significant street-gang trial in the 14th-floor courtroom of U.S. District John J. Tharp Jr. could last months and has created security concerns around the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Prosecutors persuaded Tharp to keep jurors anonymous, records show. The U.S. Marshals also asked the judge to keep the Hobos shackled during the trial. Tharp declined.

The trial started Tuesday, with jury selection expected to begin Wednesday.

Prosecutors believe Daniels was murdered to keep him from testifying, but the judge has ruled Daniels may speak from the grave through grand jury testimony offered before his death.

The feds are also worried about the safety of other witnesses, and a U.S. Marshals supervisor told the judge last week the agency is investigating alleged threats made toward people under marshal protection in connection with the case.

A grand jury first indicted the Hobos in 2013. Their trial will commence while Chicago grapples with gun violence that has sent this year’s murder tally soaring.

The Hobos’ defense attorneys complain in court filings that their clients are being treated “like a dangerous animal.” But that would be a stark contrast from the high-flying lifestyle the feds say the Hobos once enjoyed. The gang amassed a fleet of luxury cars, became elite gamblers and even took tropical vacations in Florida and Hawaii, court records show.

Now, Poe and others could face a lifetime in prison. Last January, prosecutors declined to pursue the death penalty.

Poe’s lawyer did not comment when contacted by the Chicago Sun-Times. Chester’s attorney didn’t respond.

Authorities say the Hobos are a collection of Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples and others — a “renegade group” or “conglomerate.” Its core members built a base of operations out of the Robert Taylor public housing project, records show.


The Hobo lore has been laid out in court records, along with an apparent reference to Chester and Gabriel Bush as the men who said “we Hobo” because they “just sleep and rob.”

“The Hobos’ violence against rivals increased their reputation and allowed the Hobos to maintain their power on the streets, while decreasing the likelihood that other gang factions would seek to retaliate,” prosecutors wrote in a lengthy court filing.

The gang members allegedly referred to each other as “Hobo,” and federal prison officials even once found a handmade “Happy Birthday Ho-Bo” card in the locker of inmate Stanley “Smiley” Vaughn, who has already admitted his role with the gang.

The gang’s fleet of automobiles included Dodge Chargers, Range Rovers and Cadillac Escalades. But Poe held on to an old-school Chevy Impala with the word “Hobo” stitched into the headrest.


Prosecutors say Chester’s street reputation was established when he and Bush robbed a pair of jewelry stores with a TEC-9 handgun and a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun in the mid-1990s. The feds call Chester the gang’s “undisputed leader.” A tattoo on his arm depicts two high-rise buildings in an apparent homage to the Robert Taylor Homes — along with a hand holding a smoking gun and another holding a bag of money.

But prosecutors also say the Hobos’ horizontal structure gave the gang flexibility, and its leader “at any given moment would be the individual heading or arranging the criminal activity.”

So while Chester may be the boss, much attention has also been paid to the ruthless and cunning Poe, whose own misspelled tattoo reads, “Cheif Hobo.” He allegedly cut off an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet in 2013 to hunt and execute Daniels — in front of Daniels’ girlfriend and children — for informing on the gang. Chester allegedly summed it up when he said on a recorded jailhouse phone call: “This motherf—er crazy. Poe. Poe. He crazy.”

The FBI had tried to hide Daniels from the Hobos in Dolton. But the feds say Poe appeared there wearing black clothes and a black knitted hat on April 14, 2013. He allegedly began to fire at a vehicle in which Daniels had been a passenger until Daniels jumped out and fell to the ground. Poe allegedly kept shooting as he stood over Daniels’ body.

Poe would be arrested weeks later by a SWAT team in Wisconsin after a daylong search that locked down several schools. In a court filing, the government indicated that prosecutors intend to introduce evidence that a second person also helped Poe during Daniels’ slaying.

Daniels was the brother of Hobo Arnold “Armstrong” Council, court records show. After Daniels’ death, Council allegedly told his mother that she shouldn’t have stopped making payments on Daniels’ life insurance policy. He also allegedly said other young people in the family should use Daniels’ death as an example.

Seven years earlier, the feds say Poe was also involved in the murder of Moore, a Chicago police informant. Poe allegedly helped the Hobos seek retribution after Moore led CPD to an apartment where Council sold cocaine. In January 2006, Poe allegedly shot at Moore outside a South Side barbershop. He and Council then allegedly chased Moore to a vacant lot.

That’s where Poe handed a gun to Council so Council could shoot Moore, the feds say.

The violence didn’t stop there. Later that year, occupants of a Dodge Magnum tried to gun down Chester at a car wash at 76th and Vincennes. They shot Chester multiple times, but prosecutors say Poe stepped in to protect the Hobo leader, firing back and killing an innocent bystander. Chester was treated at a hospital under the name Desjuar Anderson.

Finally, Poe has admitted to his role in a 2009 home invasion in which two brothers suspected of drug dealing were forced to the floor, gagged and burned with an iron. While the brothers were covered with a comforter, the home invaders threatened to set them on fire and poured something on them. It turned out to be hot sauce, police reports show.

While under the blanket, the men couldn’t see the home invaders. But they could hear threats documented in police reports like, “I know what time your wife goes to work, what time you pick your kids up from school” as well as Poe’s alleged command to “smoke him so we can ride out; take the little guy in the bathroom and smoke him.”

But the home invaders carried what sounded like a chirping police scanner. One suddenly yelled “let’s go!” And the Hobos all disappeared.

The brothers were burned and beaten, but survived

I wonder how many guys Poe has actually killed. The ones police don't know about.

Some background on the hobos from the indictment.


The Hobos
The Hobos were a criminal enterprise of enterprise of robbers, drug dealers, and murderers from the south and west sides of the City of Chicago, whose active criminal activity began no later than 2004 and continued through 2013. The members consisted of individuals with established rank within different factions of established street gangs, including the Gangster Disciples and Black Disciples. Unlike traditional organized street gangs in Chicago, such as the Black Disciples or Gangster Disciples, who may have had a hierarchical structure and maintained alliances with other gangs under the People and Folk Nations, the Hobos were representative of a new breed of street gang comprised of members from diverse gangs that were once rivals. The Hobos allied together in order to more profitably distribute narcotics, accumulate wealth, and establish “turf” control on the south and west sides of Chicago. The Hobos proved to be more ruthless and with a greater tendency towards violence than other criminal enterprise in order to obtain narcotics, money, and turf. Many individuals considered the undisputed leader of the Hobos to be Gregory Chester, aka “Bowlegs,” a Gangster Disciple from the Robert Taylor
Case: 1:13-cr-00774 Document #: 540 Filed: 06/15/16 Page 10 of 104 PageID #:4227

11 Homes.
1
Nonetheless, the Hobos had a relatively horizontal structure, which gave the Hobos flexibility, permitting one member to cover for another at any given time. The “leader” at any given moment would be the individual heading or arranging the criminal activity. Gregory Chester, Gabriel Bush, and William Ford were Gangster Disciples from the Robert Taylor Homes housing projects, while Paris Poe was a Black Disciple from the south side of Chicago. Stanley Vaughn, aka Smiley, and his brothers, Derrick Vaughn, aka D-Block, and Individual IV hailed from the “Dirty Low” faction of the Gangster Disciples, which controlled the neighborhood near 47
th
Street and Vincennes Avenue. Through Arnold Council, a group of up-and-coming shooters and freight-train burglars from 51st and Calumet known as the “Met Boys” associated with the Hobos. This crew included twins Byron and Brandon Brown,
2
as well as CD-1 and Keith Daniels, was from the neighborhood near 51
st
Street and Calumet Avenue on the south side of Chicago. When these factions allied with the Hobos, they worked together and interchangeably to engage in narcotics trafficking, and to commit home invasions, robberies, shootings, and murders. The Hobos considered themselves an exclusive and elite group. They called themselves “Hobo” and referred to each other as “Hobo” during conversation. They obtained tattoos identifying themselves as Hobos, used a unique hand sign, and, on
1
Gregory Chester’s “street” reputation was established after he robbed two jewelry stores as a teenager in the mid-1990s with Gabriel Bush
2
Brandon Brown, aka Twinsko, was fatally shot and killed in 2010.
Case: 1:13-cr-00774 Document #: 540 Filed: 06/15/16 Page 11 of 104 PageID #:4228


12 occasion, obtained and drove cars with the word “Hobo” stitched into the headrests. In contrast to other criminal street enterprises, which often relied on low-quality pistols and unreliable firearms purchased on the streets, the Hobos procured and used high-powered guns, including FN-5.7 handguns, assault rifles and handguns with 30-shot magazines, which the Hobos made accessible to the other members and their associates. The older Hobos shared their wealth with each other, their associates, and younger members, providing them access to narcotics, rental cars, luxury items and vacations, including trips to Hawaii, Atlanta, and Florida

the guys crazy, took off his ankle monitor and killed the witness. I wonder how they found out where he was.

Hobos is mainly GDs & BDs from the 90s era. They don't have a presence on the Westside ( that I'm aware of) and the 2 BD decks was formerly GDs back around 94/95 before flipping. Weird how they killed a BD leader ( Beans) and his position isn't mentioned from the Chicago paper back then in 07.

I wonder are the RocNation,Boonie Boys, and The Burr cliques connected to Hobos?

That's dedication right there

Did these informants not get witness protection or did they deny it?

One of them was under marshall protection at the time of his death and was scheduled to testify against the hobos leader in a drug case, the other i think was a police informant.

Prosecutor calls Hobos leaders 'All-Star team' of killing
Jason MeisnerContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

As the trial got underway Wednesday for six reputed leaders of the Hobos street gang, a federal prosecutor detailed the allegations of killings, torture and robberies as images of crime scenes flashed on a large screen for jurors.

During his 90-minute opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Otlewski held up assault rifles and other weaponry he said the gang used to reign supreme in the South Side drug trade.

"For nearly a decade, the Hobos' ruthlessness and violence struck fear in the hearts of people living on the South Side of Chicago," Otlewski told jurors. "They arrogantly believed that they were above the law."

But the lawyer for Gregory Chester, the gang's alleged leader, said the prosecution case is built on lies "bought and paid for" by criminals looking for a way out of their own messes and overzealous police seeking to further their careers.

"People who should be doing life for murder are going to get sweetheart deals," the attorney, Beau Brindley, said in his opening remarks. "It doesn't matter (to prosecutors), as long as they say the magic words ... Gregory Chester did it!"

Lawyers for the other five defendants were scheduled to speak to the jury in the afternoon. Each of the six faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Otlewski said the Hobos were no ordinary street gang, robbing and stealing at will, terrorizing rivals and killing or attempting to kill anyone who dared cooperate against them.


"This case is not about a group of misguided youth, of teens hanging out on a street corner. Not for one minute," Otlewski said. "You will see what happens when the worst of the worst of Chicago gangs gets together. … This was an All-Star team."

Jurors were shown photos of the bullet-riddled bodies of two leaders of the Black Disciples who were ambushed and killed in September 2007 after they left a funeral home. One of the victims, Antonio Bluitt, still had a cigar hanging from his mouth.

Other images included a photo of Bobby Simmons, a former NBA basketball player from Chicago, smiling while wearing a $200,000 white gold necklace. Prosecutors alleged that two Hobos snatched the jewelry from Simmons' neck at gunpoint outside a River North nightclub in 2006. During a high-speed chase, shots were fired at Simmons' car.

Otlewski also detailed the April 2013 slaying of Keith Daniels, who had been cooperating with law enforcement against the gang and just days before his killing testified before a grand jury. Daniels, who was moved to Dolton for his safety, had just returned home from a Sunday dinner at his grandparents' home when defendant Paris Poe stepped out from behind some shrubs and opened fire, barely missing Daniels' girlfriend and two young children in the back seat, according to Otlewski.

Daniels bailed out of the car, but one of the shots went through his side and pierced his heart, the prosecutor said. As Daniels lay on the ground gasping his last breaths, the killer walked over and finished the job, the prosecutor said.

"He stood over Daniels' body and he shot over and over," said Otlewski, pausing to turn toward Poe seated at the defense table. "Then he walked calmly, coolly, professionally around the car, got into a waiting vehicle and sped off."

The trial comes at a time of increased concern about violence in Chicago. Homicides and shootings — many of them gang-related — are up close to 50 percent over a year earlier to levels unseen in two decades.

Prosecutors allege that the Hobos represented a new breed of gang that was made up of members from various gangs who once were rivals. Many of the Hobos started in the now-demolished Robert Taylor and Ida B. Wells public housing complexes from factions of the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples street gangs, according to prosecutors.

But Brindley said in his opening statement that while Chester made some money selling drugs and gambling at casinos, he was never part of any violent criminal organization.

Brindley said Chester was a "guy with money on the street" who caught the attention of Chicago police detectives who decided "one way or another they were going to get him."

Brindley also mocked the government's "Norman Rockwell" portrayal of Daniels as an innocent person simply returning home from a family dinner at his grandmother's.

"Keith Daniels was a criminal who did a lot of talking about a lot of people and there are a lot of folks who would have wanted him dead," Brindley said.

Not since the El Rukn trials two decades ago has so much violence been alleged against a single gang. Heavy security has been put in place at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in downtown Chicago for the trial, which is expected to last three months or more.

A metal detector was set up outside U.S. District Judge John Tharp's 14th-floor courtroom, where lawyers and the judge spent five days interviewing potential jurors who were identified only by number.

The U.S. Marshals Service had warned of threats made against witnesses and asked that the defendants' legs remain shackled during the trial, but Tharp ruled against it because of the "very real" possibility it would prejudice jurors.

Instead, the courtroom has been set up with long tables draped with black skirting that blocks views of the legs of those seated. That way, the judge said, if he has to order shackles at some point during the trial, the jury will not notice any difference.

The origin of the Hobos' name is uncertain, although it's possibly a reference to the loss of their homes after the public housing complexes were razed. Jurors are expected to hear evidence that members called each other Hobo during conversations, got tattoos identifying themselves as Hobos, used a unique hand sign and took lavish trips together.

Chester, the lead defendant, was considered the head of the Hobos because of his connections to drug suppliers, authorities said. His nickname, "Bowlegs," stemmed from a birth defect, but he ruled with an iron fist.

While the gang's criminal activity dates to at least 2004, the killings alleged in the indictment took place between 2006 and 2013. Among the casualties were the two gang rivals who had just attended a friend's funeral, a semipro basketball player who was slain in a case of mistaken identity, an innocent bystander from Los Angeles visiting relatives and an elderly woman killed in a car crash as police chased a fleeing Hobos member.

But the focus of the trial will be the killings of witnesses and informants. The first slaying involved drug dealer Wilbert "Big Shorty" Moore, who was gunned down in January 2006 in front of a barbershop in the Bronzeville neighborhood because of his cooperation with authorities, prosecutors allege. Poe is accused of firing at Moore from a car at 43rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue after being tipped off that Moore would be there.

The most recent slaying was that of Daniels, a key witness in a drug-trafficking case against Chester who had been relocated by authorities to south suburban Dolton for his safety. When the 27-year-old father pulled into his driveway with his wife and her two young children in April 2013, a gunman walked up and opened fire through the windshield, according to court records.

Daniels tried to run but was quickly cut down by more than two dozen bullets as the children, ages 6 and 4, screamed in the back seat. After the assailant jumped into a waiting SUV and sped off, Daniels' wife called 911 to report her husband had just been shot.

"I know who it was," she said, repeating the name three times: "Poleroski. Poleroski. Poleroski."

Federal prosecutors say Poleroski was the street name for Poe, who they alleged had cut off a court-ordered electronic monitoring device from his ankle and killed Daniels to keep him from testifying.

The first witness for the prosecution is expected to be Nicholas Roti, the former chief of the organized crime bureau for the Chicago Police Department. Roti, who is expected to take the stand Thursday, will testify as an expert about Chicago street gangs.

Defense attorneys have asked the judge for leeway to cross-examine Roti over his work at the controversial police facility at Homan Square. They also want to ask about allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit that he blackballed two Chicago police officers because of undercover work that led to the arrest of corrupt police Sgt. Ronald Watts.

Seems like they are hyping this group reputation over the most basic cut throat activities. Eliminate rivals & witness by all means necessary. We posted of other hybrid cliques that had at least 3 or 4 different affiliations. These guys are remnants of the 90s structure and most of their membership looks older (25+).

I'm still waiting on more info in the Operation 40. Cal case to come up. That must be something going on with witnesses in that trial too.

Facing alleged violent robbers at Hobos trial, ex-NBA player's memory fails


Bobby Simmons plays with the Los Angeles Clippers in a game at the Unied Center on Nov. 13, 2004. (Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune)
Kim JanssenContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

Three years ago, former NBA player Bobby Simmons had a vivid memory of how he said he'd been robbed at gunpoint of a $200,000 diamond necklace outside a River North nightclub.

But testifying before a federal grand jury and at the trial of the hardened criminals you're accusing are two different things.

Faced across a courtroom Thursday from members of the Hobos street gang — who the feds say have a history of bumping off witnesses — Simmons memory failed him.

"I don't remember," he repeatedly answered a federal prosecutor's questions about the robbery on June 10, 2006.

Simmons, a Chicago native who excelled at DePaul University and was with the Milwaukee Bucks at the time of the incident, looked anything but comfortable on the stand despite wearing a gray sweatsuit to court.

While he acknowledged "I was robbed," all the details he'd previously provided to the grand jury evaporated as he stole nervous glances at the men he had accused. "I can't remember anything — it was so long ago," he said, even after he was shown his grand jury testimony.

He claimed no recollection of the gun he'd previously accused Paris "Poleroski" Poe of brandishing during the robbery, no knowledge of how much he paid for the diamond necklace, and no knowledge of the Land Rover he gave chase in after he was robbed. That meant he could not testify about the bullet holes police found in the side of the vehicle — evidence, the feds say, of shots Poe fired at Simmons.

Asked what he thought he'd paid for the necklace, he said. "I'm not a diamond expert, sir." But asked if he'd lied in his grand jury testimony, he said, "No, you can't do that, sir!"

"No, you can't," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Storino agreed.

U.S. District Judge John Tharp cut short the prosecutor's misery by dismissing Simmons from the stand, though he said Simmons would likely be called back later this afternoon — likely to go through his grand jury testimony line by line.

Poe, who is standing trial alongside five of his alleged confederates, is accused of murdering two federal witnesses. That prompted court staff to increase security during what's expected to be a three-month trial, including installing a metal detector outside the courtroom, which Simmons would have seen as he entered to testify Thursday.

Feds make Bobby Simmons relive violent 2006 car chase with Hobos

Jon Seidel

While a member of the Milwaukee Bucks, Bobby Simmons pursued two alleged members of the deadly Hobos gang through the streets of Chicago in June 2006 — including Lake Shore Drive — blowing red lights and refusing to give up the chase even after they shot at him at least 15 times.

That’s according to Simmons’ own grand jury testimony, read in a federal courtroom Monday in front of Simmons and six alleged Hobos leaders, including the two men Simmons allegedly followed that night. The feds say Paris “Poleroski” Poe stole a $200,000 white gold and diamond necklace from Simmons, and Arnold “Armstrong” Council helped Poe get away.


As wild as that night may have been, Simmons claimed to have forgotten nearly everything about it when he took the witness stand last week during the Hobos’ racketeering trial at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp gave lawyers the weekend to decide how to handle his testimony.

In the end, the former NBA player’s second appearance at the trial lasted less than 15 minutes. Dressed all in black, Simmons listened from the witness stand Monday as a pair of federal agents read Simmons’ March 2013 grand jury testimony to the trial jury, describing the following events:

Simmons went to Ice Bar on June 10, 2006, near Clark and Chicago Avenue, but he decided to leave the club early so he could celebrate his birthday the next day. While he was crossing the street, someone cut him off, pointed a gun at him and told him, “don’t run.”

“I have identified this person as Paris Poe,” Simmons told the grand jury.

Poe pulled twice on Simmons’ necklace, which featured a diamond pendant, and Poe ran when it popped off Simmons’ neck. Simmons said he jumped into a truck with two other people, spotted a Dodge Magnum heading the wrong way on a one-way street and followed it while trying unsuccessfully to call the police.

Simmons said he chased the Magnum — driven by Council — through red lights and only fell back when he saw Poe lean out of a window and fire a gun at least seven times, hitting Simmons’ car. But Simmons said he continued to chase the Magnum, trying to get its license plate.

At one point, Simmons said Council hit the brakes, and Simmons’ truck slammed into the Magnum. Simmons also said the chase led out onto Lake Shore Drive, until they exited near 22nd or 23rd streets. The chase then led to the Harold Ickes homes, where Poe fired at Simmons’ car at least eight more times and got out of the car to run away.

Simmons continued to chase the Magnum until he and Council crashed near 60th Street — leaving Simmons with a scar on his chin. Afterward, Simmons said he got into an “altercation” with Council. The feds have said Simmons held Council at the scene until police arrived.

Simmons also told the grand jury he picked Poe and Council out of a lineup.

Poe and Council are alleged leaders of a gang described as a “conglomerate” and “an all-star team of the worst of the worst” of Chicago’s street gangs. Its members have been tied to nine murders. Poe allegedly executed two informants who snitched on the Hobos to the Chicago Police Department and the FBI.

Simmons, a former Simeon High School and DePaul University forward, has previously been reluctant to testify against the Hobos, according to prosecutors. The feds say it took a significant effort by the FBI to serve him with a subpoena this time. When he took the stand last week, he said he didn’t remember much about the robbery. And at one point, he said he didn’t even remember testifying before the grand jury.

“It’s kinda hard,” Simmons said last week, muttering softly into a microphone. “I can’t remember everything that happened. It was so long ago.”

Dramatic testimony in Hobos gang trial as eyewitness recounts killing
Jason MeisnerContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

Antonina Pellegrino and her boyfriend were walking to her car on the South Side one night a decade ago when two men in hoodies ran at them from an alley and pushed him up against a wrought iron fence.

While one man held Steven Bogovich's arm behind his back, another stuck a gun in his face and said, "'Where the (expletive) is the money?'" Pellegrino testified in a hushed federal courtroom Monday.

She pleaded with the gunman to let Bogovich go, but instead he fired a shot into his neck, pointed the gun at her and then took off, she said.

Panicked, Pellegrino ran to Bogovich and tried to apply pressure to his wound, but it was too late.

"He was just bleeding out and I was screaming for help, but no one would come and help," said Pellegrino, now 35, pausing to wipe tears from her eyes with her sleeve. Bogovich died the next day.

Pellegrino's dramatic testimony came as the trial of six reputed leaders of the Hobos gang entered its second month. Her boyfriend's November 2006 shooting, which prosecutors said stemmed from a drug deal gone bad, was one of nine killings allegedly carried out by the gang as part of a reign of terror that used violence and intimidation to seize control of the city's drug trade.

Pellegrino stood up from the witness stand to get a better look at defendant Gabriel Bush before pointing him out as her boyfriend's killer.

NBA star's memory improves on stand, with federal judge's help
NBA star's memory improves on stand, with federal judge's help
Bush and the five others on trial — Gregory Chester, Paris Poe, Arnold Council, Derrick Vaughn and William Ford — face up to life in prison if convicted of the most serious counts of racketeering conspiracy.

Prosecutors allege that the Hobos represented a new breed of gang that was made up of members from various gangs who once were rivals. Many of the Hobos started in the now-demolished Robert Taylor and Ida B. Wells public housing complexes from factions of the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples street gangs, according to prosecutors.

Among the killings the gang allegedly committed was the 2006 shooting of Wilbert Moore, a police informant who had provided an earlier tip that led to the seizure of narcotics and high-powered weapons from an apartment controlled by the Hobos. In November 2013, another informant, Keith Daniels, was fatally shot outside his Dolton apartment in front of his wife and children, allegedly by Poe, prosecutors said.

Bogovich, a known drug dealer, was killed Nov. 24, 2006, after associates of his had taken $17,000 from Bush in exchange for a kilogram of cocaine that turned out to be fake, according to prosecutors.

On the night of the slaying, Chicago police had stopped Bush and Council after their van was spotted suspiciously circling the McKinley Park neighborhood, court records show. About half an hour after police told them to leave, Bogovich was shot in front of a friend's house in the 1800 block of West 34th Place.

Prosecutors on Monday showed the jury gruesome photographs of the crime scene, including one with a large pool of blood on the sidewalk where Bogovich fell, his white ski cap crumpled next to Pellegrino's car keys. Another photo depicted Pellegrino's bloody handprint on the kitchen door of a nearby home where she had run for help.

Pellegrino testified she identified Bush as the shooter from a photo array shown to her by police the next day at Stroger Hospital, where Bogovich was on life support. A month later, Bush was charged with first-degree murder in Cook County after Pellegrino identified him again in a physical lineup.

Bush was acquitted of the charges after a bench trial in December 2009, court records show.

Jury in Hobos gang trial says some members refuse to agree on verdict

Elyssa Cherney and Jason MeisnerContact Reporters
Chicago Tribune
A federal jury in a racketeering case against one of Chicago's most notorious street gangs indicated Thursday that it may be deadlocked on at least one count but didn't say whether it was stuck on a central charge that could send six alleged Hobos members to prison for life.

In a note to U.S. District Judge John Tharp, the jury wrote that one person refuses to convict and at least one person refuses to give a not guilty verdict.

ADVERTISING


"There are some strong beliefs on both sides," the note said.

The revelation came on the fourth full day of deliberation following a marathon 15-week trial that featured hundreds of witnesses. The defendants are accused, among other things, of taking part in nine killings and a slew of kidnappings, robberies and shootings over the course of a decade.

Tharp, in a note, advised jurors to "please continue deliberating." He said he could press jurors harder about reaching a decision after three months of testimony, but he's "reluctant to bring out the canon at this stage."

The note did not specify to which charge or defendant it referred. The defendants face nine other criminal charges related to gang activity, but the racketeering conspiracy is the most serious.

Thursday's note came a week after a juror, on the first day of deliberation, said he made up his mind and didn't want to continue, according to Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"Judge, how can I get off this jury?" the note said. "Maybe one of the alternates can take my place?"

After questioning the juror further, Tharp said the man needed to remain on the panel.

Among the defendants are Gregory "Bowlegs" Chester, the gang's reputed leader who testified in his own defense earlier this month. Alleged gang lieutenants Paris Poe, Arnold Council, Gabriel Bush, Stanley Vaughn and William Ford also stood trial.

The jury will continue deliberations Tuesday.

Any updates in this case? I think these guys will beat this case, bowlegs appears to be very smart with the strategy he's implementing

The 40 cal case doesn't seem legal to me, as americans we have the right to organize and you can't blame a leader for what a member does. If the leader takes the defense that he runs a peaceful organization and he never told a member to break the law...then to be the burden of proof is on the prosecutor to show a connection, you shouldn't go to jail solely because you the leader of an organization

It's very likely that some witnesses have .... Disappeared.

Heres some of bowlegs testimony.

Reputed Hobos leader tries to distance himself from informant's slaying
Hobos tattoo

Jason MeisnerContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
The reputed leader of a violent Chicago street gang sought to distance himself Thursday from the 2013 slaying of an informant whose cooperation had led to the gang member's arrest on drug conspiracy charges just days earlier.

Testifying for a second day in his defense, Gregory "Bowlegs" Chester told a federal jury he had no motive whatsoever to order federal informant Keith Daniels killed. In fact, Chester said, his mother was good friends with Daniels' mother, who had already lost another son to violence.

"Keith Daniels is like family to me," Chester told jurors. "His mother is like my mother. I mean, I felt her pain. I know what she went through, and I wouldn't ever want to see her go through anything like that again."

Daniels, 27, was fatally shot in April 2013 — a few days after Chester's arrest — by a masked gunman who waited in ambush behind some bushes outside the Dolton apartment where Daniels had been moved to for his safety. Federal prosecutors have alleged Chester's associate, Hobos lieutenant Paris Poe, cut off a court-ordered electronic monitoring device and killed Daniels in front of his fiancee and their two young children to keep him from testifying against Chester.

Chester, 39, is among six alleged Hobos leaders on trial for racketeering conspiracy charges. Prosecutors have alleged the Hobos were responsible for nine killings, including Daniels and another informant who was cooperating with law enforcement against the gang.

Chester's decision to testify in his own defense is a rare and potentially risky move for a criminal defendant in Chicago's federal court, particularly in a racketeering case in which he faces the potential of life in prison without parole.

In his first day on the stand Wednesday, Chester denied he is the leader of the Hobos and even went as far as to suggest that the gang does not exist. Chester, who walks with a severe limp due to a childhood bone disease, also denied taking part in any shootings or killings, and scoffed at the notion that anyone with a disability could be the head of such an allegedly violent enterprise.

In a tense, three-hour cross examination Thursday afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Otlewski repeatedly tried to paint Chester as a liar, including an incident just weeks ago when Chester was caught in a federal Loop jail trying to smuggle synthetic marijuana — an incident that prompted a two-day delay in the trial.

Over and over, Otlewski asked in a mocking tone how Chester — who described himself as a "bona fide hustler" — could prosper as a drug dealer without resorting to violence. While he mostly kept his composure, Chester's memory grew hazy on many points, from who he was with for certain drug deals to how much heroin his main drug supplier would give him. He also claimed he didn't know the first name of one of his co-defendants, Stanley Vaughn.

At one point, after Otlewski asked about Chester's side business as an investor in a clothing store chain, Chester snorted and said he didn't understand the question.

"Explain it to me like I was a 2-year-old," Chester said.

U.S. District Judge John Tharp repeatedly warned Otlewski to stop making "editorial comments" during his questioning. The cross-examination nearly derailed when Otlewski asked Chester about his elaborate arm tattoo, which depicts a pair of eyes — and what appear to be small horns — overlooking the now-razed Robert Taylor Homes along with the word "Hobo" and the phrase "The Earth is Our Turf."

Chester testified that the tattoo is a tribute to a slain friend nicknamed Hobo and that the eyes represent God looking down over the public housing projects where they were raised.

"Does the God that you worship have horns?" asked Otlewski, drawing an immediate rebuke from the judge.

After the trial adjourned for the day, Tharp warned the prosecutor that the comment was "so far beyond the pale" that it was inconceivable he didn't know better. Tharp told Otlewski that if crossed the line again, "the fallout is going to be in front of the jury, and it is not going to help the government's case."

Earlier Thursday, Chester's lawyer, Beau Brindley, played several recorded telephone calls Chester had with Poe and others from the Kankakee County Jail where he was being held after his arrest. In the calls, Chester repeatedly laughed about Poe having cut off his monitoring device and called him "crazy."

"Oh, my God, that wasn't even called for," he said in one call. "I can't take this. ... He is straight goofball, hell."

Prosecutors have alleged the calls contained coded language showing Chester encouraging Poe to take care of the informant.

But when Brindley asked what he meant, Chester said he was merely saying that cutting the bracelet off was "the dumbest idea ever" because it meant a sure trip back to jail.

"Did Mr. Poe ever indicate he would do anything to Keith Daniels?" Brindley asked.

"No, never," Chester replied.

Hobo's found guilty of all charges but 1, facing life

The verdict is bull shit, no proof of conspiracy no proof of murder

Because they were afriad to testify?...Or otherwise?

I wonder why they havent made as big a deal over the black souls case as they did with this.

Now your understanding what I mean by they're the mystery mob. Well organized and tight knit is the statement by the Police Chief at that time. Hard to penetrate a small mob like them.

Honestly, That might not be there name, Hobos. I don't recall coming across the name of cliques on the Low End.