![]() 40-Caliber,” a reference to the caliber of bullets used by Black Souls enforcer Duavon Spears to execute police informant Claude Snulligan in 2012. In addition to Dawson, the jury convicted Antwan Davis, Clifton Lemon, Teron Odum, Ulysses Polk and Duavon Spears.ĭawson and five men alleged to be his top lieutenants in the gang are the lone defendants to stand trial among 23 Black Souls and associates indicted in 2013, the culmination of a months-long investigation of the gang by Chicago Police and the FBI. She called the verdict a victory for West Garfield Park, a neighborhood she said “deserves safety and peace.”Īttorneys for the defense stopped to console a group of women who were gathered outside the courthouse but declined to comment on the case, citing a gag order. “For over 10 years the Black Souls terrorized a West Side neighborhood through violent crimes to protect their illegal drug trade,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx said at a press conference after the verdict was announced. The case was the first in Cook County to go to trial under the state’s 2012 Racketeer Influenced Criminal Organization laws adopted by the legislature at the urging of then-Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Prosecutors said the gang, headed by Cornell Dawson, controlled a six-square block area of the West Side, centered on a brisk business selling cocaine and heroin near the corner of West Monroe and Pulaski. ![]() Even with the five new jury members, the group apparently made short work of analyzing nine weeks of testimony that included details of a half-dozen murders carried out by Black Souls members, numerous drug deals and decades of the East Garfield Park gang’s history. ![]()
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