WATCH: Gangs Turn Chicago's Railroad Yards Into Gun Shopping Malls

CHICAGO, IL — When street-gang thieves slipped with ease into a Norfolk Southern rail yard on the South Side and ripped locks off one train, they likely expected to see merchandise like toys or tennis shoes.

What they beheld instead was a gangster’s jackpot: box after box of brand new guns.

The guns had been en route from New Hampshire weapons maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. to Spokane, Washington. The .45-caliber Ruger revolvers and other firearms instead spread quickly into surrounding high-crime Chicago neighborhoods. Along with two other major gun thefts within three years, the robbery helped fuel a wave of violence on Chicago’s streets.

The 2015 heist of the 111 guns, as well as one in 2014 and another last September from the same 63rd Street Rail Yard highlight a tragic confluence:

• Chicago’s biggest rail yards are on the gang- and murder-plagued South Side and West Side, where most of the city’s 780 killings happened last year.
• Chicago’s city leaders and police blame lax gun laws in Illinois and nearby states that enable a flow of illegal weapons to the city’s gangs and criminals. But community leaders and security experts say no one seems to be taking responsibility for train-yard gun thefts.

Only 16 of the stolen Rugers have been recovered since the 2015 break-in, according to hundreds of recent court records reviewed by The Associated Press.

RELATED: How Long Is Chicago's No-Murders Streak? It Depends On How You Count The Bodies

One was used in a Jan. 22, 2016, shooting. Police woke an attempted-murder suspect and found one by his bed. Another was in a dealer’s home alongside 429 bags of heroin. Police recovered another during a traffic stop; the driver said his friend had just been shot 10 times and he had to protect himself.

“It’s a war going on over here,” he told police.

WATCH: Find out how Chicago rail yards have become a firearm pipeline for gangs:

Such boxcar burglaries have happened elsewhere, including of 100 assault rifles from a train in Atlanta in 2012. But the frequency in Chicago stands out, and it has a lot to do with the city’s role as the nation’s freight-rail hub.

One shipping-industry adage goes: “Cargo at rest is cargo at risk.”

And, in Chicago, because of track congestion, cargo is often at rest. About 500 freight trains vie daily for limited track access, leaving some waiting for days — and making them easy targets.

Some gangs treat rail yards as if they are shopping malls.

RELATED: Chicago's 2017 Murders: Weekend Marks 100 Victims In Just Over 50 Days

Residents near the yard are angry that the multibillion-dollar railroad isn’t doing more to stop the thefts.

“In a place where murders seem to be happening every single day, the last thing we need in Chicago is a rail yard with guns being stolen,” said Corey Brooks, pastor of the New Beginnings Church, which hugs the yard.

Thomas Ahern, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent in Chicago until his recent retirement, called the thefts “a serious (security) breakdown that needs to be addressed.”

There’s little incentive to spend millions fortifying yards because railways are well insured and don’t take a big financial hit when cargo is lost, said Frank Scafidi, a former FBI agent and spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau. He said railways weigh costs such as new fencing against the odds thieves will “win the lottery” and pick the one boxcar out of thousands with guns.

“They are willing to take the risk,” Scafidi said.

By MICHAEL TARM | The Associated Press

A mural champions the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago, where access to the Norfolk Southern rail yard goes unimpeded. The 2015 heist of over 100 guns, preceded by one in 2014, and another last September from a Chicago rail yard highlight a tragic confluence. Chicago’s biggest rail yards are on the gang- and homicide-plagued South and West Sides where most of the city’s hundreds of killings happened last year. (photo by Charles Rex Arbogast | Associated Press)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Live Traffic and Transit Updates