24 people hit with federal charges in West Side gang investigation

CHICAGO - Federal charges have been filed against 24 people after an investigation into two street gangs on Chicago’s West Side.

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Full Circle,” targeted members of the Black P-Stones Nation and the Wicked Town faction of the Traveling Vice Lords, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Indictments in the case allege federal gun, drug and money laundering offenses as well as murder-for-hire charges, prosecutors said.

The operation led to the seizure of 34 guns, 6.7 kilograms of heroin, 17 kg of cocaine, more than a kilogram of fentanyl, 50 grams of crack cocaine, 200 pounds of marijuana and more than $1.3 million in cash and jewelry allegedly purchased with drug money, prosecutors said.

James Harris, 51, of Berkley; Patrick Turner, 52, of Bellwood; Gregory Hopkins, 50, of Chicago; Larnell Pillow, 51, of Chicago; Rickey Griffin, 51, of South Holland; Eric Berger, 53, of Chicago; and Reginald Richmond, 29, of Sunrise Terrace, are all charged in a single indictment that accuses them of distributing “wholesale quantities of heroin and cocaine” on the West Side, prosecutors said.

Federal officials also revealed that the murder-for-hire charges filed against Deshawn Morgan, Darius Murphy and Demond Brown last year were part of the same investigation.

Other defendants charged as part of the investigation include:

• Donald Lee, 47, of Chicago, charged with gun offenses;
• Jamar Spencer, 34, of Chicago, charged with gun and drug offenses;
• Terrence Jenkins, 52, of Chicago, charged with gun offenses;
• Larry Jones, 39, of Broadview, charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin;
• Marsha Fountain, 48, of Plainfield, charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin;
• Enrique Fuentes-Ortiz, 45, of Chicago, charged with gun and drug offenses;
• Deshon George, 26, of Chicago, charged with gun offenses;
• Dante Dockett, 42, of Chicago, charged with gun offenses;
• Derrius Burns, 27, of Chicago, charged with gun offenses;
• Daniel Cerpa, 41, of Elmhurst, charged with fentanyl and heroin trafficking;
• Wilfredo Gomez, 48, of Chicago, charged with fentanyl and heroin trafficking;
• Marshawn Ranson, 40, of Chicago, charged with fentanyl trafficking and money laundering; and
• Jesse Ochoa, 38, of Chicago, charged with drug offenses.

The weapons, drug and money laundering charges in the various indictments carry maximum sentences of 10 years to life in prison, while the murder-for-hire charges carry mandatory life sentences with a possibility to pursue the death penalty, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors plan to hold a news conference on the charges Friday morning.