CHICAGO — Three members of a South Side gang were found guilty of racketeering conspiracy Wednesday after a lengthy trial in which prosecutors accused them of acting as “urban hunters,” terrorizing residents and ruling territory in the Englewood neighborhood through unrelenting waves of gun violence.
Reputed “Goonie” gang faction leader Romeo “O-Dog” Blackman and two alleged henchmen, Terrance “T” Smith and Jolicious “Jo Jo” Turman were convicted after five weeks of testimony in the sweeping trial.
In all, the indictment alleged the Goonies were responsible for 10 slayings and six attempted murders in an 18-month span from 2014 to 2016.
Jurors returned a mixed verdict on the indictment’s other charges. Blackman was found guilty on three out of four counts of murder and convicted of three counts of attempted murder. Smith was convicted on five counts of murder and attempted murder, but acquitted on an assault charge. And Turman was found not guilty on one count of murder.
Deliberations were somewhat rocky. Jurors told the judge Wednesday afternoon that they had reached a stalemate, but were instructed to keep deliberating; the verdict was reached a few hours after that.
And deliberations had to start over from scratch last week after one juror was dismissed.
Over five weeks of testimony, jurors watched killings play out on surveillance video, saw social media posts where Goonie members allegedly kept a tally of victims and “rejoiced” in the death of rivals, and heard testimony from a parade of cooperating witnesses who described each member’s alleged role in the organization.
The Goonies trial is the latest in a string of major racketeering cases brought by the U.S. attorney’s office aimed at the leaders of Chicago’s splintered gang factions that prosecutors say are driving the city’s rampant gun violence.
In November, a federal jury found the reputed leader of Chicago’s Wicked Town gang faction and one of his top lieutenants guilty of racketeering conspiracy involving a string of murders, shootings, robberies and narcotics trafficking on the West Side stretching back two decades.
Later this year, five alleged members of the South Side’s “O Block” gang faction are set to go to trial on a racketeering conspiracy indictment accusing them of a pattern of violence that includes the downtown slaying of Chicago rapper FBG Duck in 2020.
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