U.S. Attorney's Office Creates Violent Crime Unit In Chicago

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 21, 2014 9:00PM

Responding to growing calls to fight violent crime in Chicago, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago announced Monday a restructuring of its staff to create a unit charged solely with finding ways to use federal statutes to aggressively combat violence.

Randall Samborn, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon (pictured, right), said the 16-member Violent Crime Unit is part of a larger reshuffling of the office’s 153 prosecutors and financial resources. The unit is a spinoff of Fardon’s larger drug and gangs unit and is headed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron DeWald, a former Cook County prosecutor with connections to local law enforcement. DeWald was most recently a deputy director of Fardon’s narcotics division.

"This is putting a group of talented attorneys together and telling them that their mission is to help the city and the district tamp down violent crime...and to use all the tools and strategies at their disposal that are going accomplish that mission," Samborn said.

The U.S. Attorney’s office also announced new divisions focusing on securities and commodities fraud, and cybercrime. Establishing the securities and commodities fraud division will make it more likely major financial cases that were tried in New York will instead stay in Chicago.