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.