Hobos Gang Trial: Prosecutors Go After Members for 9 Murders, Other Crimes

The gang was known as the Hobos, and it's high-level members are accused of engaging in a campaign of street violence between 2004 and 2013 behind that unassuming name, a campaign that included nine murders.

This week, seven of the alleged members of the South Side "super gang" will go on trial for racketeering conspiracy charges connected to the murders, as well as a litany of other crimes, such as shootings, robbing NBA players and threatening police, according to media reports. Prosecutors will be focusing on Hobos leader Gregory “Bowlegs” Chester and gang lieutenant Paris “Poleroski” Poe in the case, and the gang members, who were indicted in 2013, face life in prison if convicted (prosecutors declined earlier this year to pursue the death penalty).

The federal trial marks one of the biggest gang trials since the El Rukn gang convictions of the late '80s and early '90s, and could last for months, the Chicago Tribune reports. It's also given prosecutors a cause for concern over the safety of potential jurors and witnesses, the report added. Jury selection begins Wednesday.

Why Are They Called "Hobos"?

The nickname doesn't sound as intimidating as the Gangster Disciples or the Vice Lords, but it carries with it the gang's mission statement of sorts. The gang members, like the stereotypical portrayal of the vagabonds they're named after, "just sleep and rob," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The moniker also might have sprung from the fact that the Robert Taylor and Ida B. Wells public housing complexes—home for many of the gang's members—had been torn down, turning them into "hobos," the Tribune reports. Membership of the Hobos consisted of factions from the rival Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples who lived in those complexes, the report added.

The Killing of Keith Daniels

Of the nine murders the Hobos are accused of committing, two of them involved the killing of government informants. In the case of Keith Daniels, the central witness in a drug trafficking case against Chester, prosecutors will try to use testimony from the informant's wife and two stepchildren who witnessed his murder in April of 2013, the Tribune reports.

At the time, law enforcement moved Daniels, 27, and his family to Dolton to better protect him. However, a gunman shot him as he was pulling into his driveway with his wife and kids, who were 6 and 4 at the time. Daniels tried to escape the gunfire, but he was hit more than 24 times before the killer drove off in a waiting SUV.

In her 911 call to police, the wife identified Poe as the shooter, according to the Tribune. Daniels' children, however, claimed in police interviews at the time that the assassin was wearing a Spider-Man mask, the report added.

While jurors might watch the 6-year-old child's video interview, prosecutors are objecting to the defense calling the children to testify in open court, saying federal law dictates they're too young to do so, the Tribune reports.

Why Are There Courtroom Security Concerns?

Given that the Hobos have been implicated in the killings of informants and witnesses in the past, authorities are being increasingly cautious when it comes to protecting anyone involved with the trial. Potential jurors only will be identified as numbers, their names will be kept secret, and questions about where they live and other personal information will be limited, the Tribune reports.

After witnesses in the case received threats, the U.S. Marshals Service requested that the gang members wear leg irons during the proceedings, the report stated. That was denied by the judge, who said shackles could create an unfair bias among jurors. He did, however, order that the defense tables include long, black skirting to hide the defendants' legs in case the bindings are eventually used because of safety concerns, the report added.

More via the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times

PHOTO: (Image via Shutterstock)

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