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Police Crack Down on Northwest Side Street Gang

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 23, 2011 1:47PM

Police rounded up 120 members of the Maniac Latin Disciples street gang in response to a shooting earlier this month that left two young girls, ages 2 and 7, injured.

The headline in the Sun-Times seems a bit over the top until you get to the money quotes from Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

“We’re going to obliterate that gang,” McCarthy told a roomful of police supervisors shortly after the shooting. “Every one of their locations has to get blown up until they cease to exist.”

Nick Roti, head of the department's Organized Crime Division, added, “We’re going to put them out of business.”

McCarthy's policy of holding the larger gang responsible for the actions of one is similar to the policy of his predecessor, Jody Weis. Only Weis caught hell from gang members and politicians for holding a meeting with West side gang leaders stating his intentions to bust them.

Antonio Bucio, an alleged Maniac Latin Disciples member, has been charged in the June 8 shooting. He sports a tattoo on his neck with the letter "D" sprouting devil's horns.