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And the federal government recognizes
it must play a larger role in assisting local police in dealing with the
increasingly sophisticated threat posed by gangs, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk said.
More than 50 local officials gathered
at the Deerfield Hyatt hotel to hear Kirk pledge at least $6 million of the
$60 million in federal funding for anti-gang programs will be spent in the
10th District, covering parts of Lake and Cook counties.
The need for the money is clear, Kirk
and other federal officials told the group.
More than 3,000 gang members are
operating north of Lake-Cook Road, they said, and they are operating with a
technical savvy and viciousness unknown to suburban police.
“Organized crime is alive and well,”
said Mark Prosperri, chief of the narcotics and gang section of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
“Except that it is no longer the
Mafia, the outfit or La Cosa Nostra. It is street gangs, and every
geographical area is viewed as a potential market.”
Prosperri and representatives of the
FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms painted a chilling picture of gangs and their reach into the
suburbs.
Federal authorities said:
•Most of the drug trafficking is
controlled by street gangs, many with ties to international cartels.
•Heroin produced in Afghanistan is
playing a larger role in the Chicago market and is more attractive to
suburban users because users do not have to inject it.
•More than half the guns used in
crimes in Illinois come from outside the state through a network of straw
purchasers.
•Gangs are using computers and cell
telephones more often, outdating traditional police methods of keeping
track of them.
Kirk said federal agencies are
increasing their coordination with local police and several task forces
have been established between the two groups to combat gangs.
ATF is making the process of tracing
guns back to their sources more accessible to local police, including a
Web-based database that details what gangs are getting weapons from what
suppliers.
“The key here is coordination,” Kirk
said. “As the federal crackdowns on gangs in Chicago force the gang members
into the suburbs, we will bring the knowledge we have about them to you.”
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