Prosecutors make deals with 2 killers to fight move for a certificate of innocence
Nathson Fields, a former member of the gang El Rukn, is all smiles after his acquittal in 2009 in the retrial of his murder case. With him is his girlfriend Maggie Parr. (Chicago Tribune / April 8, 2009)
|
It was an extraordinary hearing highlighted by testimony about a notorious Chicago gang's hit squads, a Cook County judge who went to prison for taking bribes to fix murder cases and an unprecedented agreement by prosecutors to reduce the sentences of two admitted killers called to testify.
At issue is whether Nathson Fields, a former member of the gang El Rukn, will be awarded a certificate of innocence. A judge is scheduled to issue a ruling in February.
Fields was originally convicted of a 1984 double murder ordered by gang kingpin Jeff Fort. But Thomas Maloney, the judge who presided over the bench trial, himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the trial, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Maloney convicted Fields and a co-defendant and sentenced both to death.
After Maloney's sensational conviction years later, Fields won a new trial and was acquitted in 2009 of the double murder. He was released after spending 17 years in prison.
Now he wants a certificate of innocence to clear his name, but county prosecutors have strenuously fought back. To prove that Fields was the actual killer, they made deals with two former Rukn "generals" to testify at the civil hearing — not a criminal proceeding where such maneuvering is commonplace.
The hearing itself was described by participants as a history lesson on one of the more notorious, flamboyant and murderous street gangs in recent Chicago history.
El Rukn — a term that testimony showed meant "the cornerstone" — emerged in the 1970s after Fort and other Black P Stone leaders went to prison in 1968 for using a $1 million federal grant to buy guns and drugs.
It operated under cover of a so-called religious organization out of a heavily fortified former movie theater called the "fort" that once stood near Pershing Road and Drexel Avenue. For years, Fort ran El Rukn from behind bars, participating by phone in weekly meetings of the Royal Council, his leadership team, according to testimony.
Fort, now 66, is serving an 80-year sentence in the supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo., for his 1987 conviction for plotting acts of domestic terrorism in exchange for $2.5 million from Libya. He isn't scheduled to be released for 25 more years, according to prison records.
One of the gang's former generals, Earl Hawkins, testified at the hearing that Fort ordered the slaying of Jerome "Fuddy" Smith, a suit coat-wearing leader of the rival Black Gangster Disciples' Goon Squad, because Smith was interfering with Rukn drug sales in a public housing complex on East Pershing Road.
Smith and Talman Hickman, another reputed Goon Squad member, were shot as they stood outside the complex. Hawkins, who testified that he took part in the murders of 10 to 20 people, said he saw Fields fire the five shots that killed Hickman.
During the hearing, Fields denied taking part in the double murder or having any position of authority in the gang, testifying that besides going to El Rukn religious and community-building meetings, the only other work he did was for the gang's private security outfit, working at Comiskey Park for a Michael Jackson concert.
Fields maintained he is not seeking a certificate of innocence for leverage in the lawsuits he's filed against the city but simply to clear his name.
"It's about justice," a transcript of the hearing quoted him as testifying. "It's about what's right."
One of Fields' attorneys, Leonard Goodman, criticized the "unprecedented" deal offered to Hawkins and Derrick Kees, another Rukn killer who tied Fields to the 1984 killings.
"The state is going to let people out of prison to say it their way," Goodman said. "This has never been done in the history — that we can tell — of civil cases."
In exchange for his testimony, Kees had the remaining five years cut from his state sentence but will continue serving the rest of his 25-year federal prison sentence. Hawkins had three years shaved off his sentence.
"They're still serving significant federal time," Assistant State's Attorney Brian Sexton said. "They'll probably be in their 70s when they get out."
Prosecutors allege that Fields was himself a Rukn general who was aware at the time of the trial of the $10,000 the gang paid to Maloney to fix his case. Fields previously served more than 12 years in prison for a 1971 murder in Dixmoor.
"He is not truly innocent," Sexton said of Fields.
sschm@tribune.com
At issue is whether Nathson Fields, a former member of the gang El Rukn, will be awarded a certificate of innocence. A judge is scheduled to issue a ruling in February.
Fields was originally convicted of a 1984 double murder ordered by gang kingpin Jeff Fort. But Thomas Maloney, the judge who presided over the bench trial, himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the trial, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Maloney convicted Fields and a co-defendant and sentenced both to death.
After Maloney's sensational conviction years later, Fields won a new trial and was acquitted in 2009 of the double murder. He was released after spending 17 years in prison.
Now he wants a certificate of innocence to clear his name, but county prosecutors have strenuously fought back. To prove that Fields was the actual killer, they made deals with two former Rukn "generals" to testify at the civil hearing — not a criminal proceeding where such maneuvering is commonplace.
The hearing itself was described by participants as a history lesson on one of the more notorious, flamboyant and murderous street gangs in recent Chicago history.
El Rukn — a term that testimony showed meant "the cornerstone" — emerged in the 1970s after Fort and other Black P Stone leaders went to prison in 1968 for using a $1 million federal grant to buy guns and drugs.
It operated under cover of a so-called religious organization out of a heavily fortified former movie theater called the "fort" that once stood near Pershing Road and Drexel Avenue. For years, Fort ran El Rukn from behind bars, participating by phone in weekly meetings of the Royal Council, his leadership team, according to testimony.
Fort, now 66, is serving an 80-year sentence in the supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo., for his 1987 conviction for plotting acts of domestic terrorism in exchange for $2.5 million from Libya. He isn't scheduled to be released for 25 more years, according to prison records.
One of the gang's former generals, Earl Hawkins, testified at the hearing that Fort ordered the slaying of Jerome "Fuddy" Smith, a suit coat-wearing leader of the rival Black Gangster Disciples' Goon Squad, because Smith was interfering with Rukn drug sales in a public housing complex on East Pershing Road.
Smith and Talman Hickman, another reputed Goon Squad member, were shot as they stood outside the complex. Hawkins, who testified that he took part in the murders of 10 to 20 people, said he saw Fields fire the five shots that killed Hickman.
During the hearing, Fields denied taking part in the double murder or having any position of authority in the gang, testifying that besides going to El Rukn religious and community-building meetings, the only other work he did was for the gang's private security outfit, working at Comiskey Park for a Michael Jackson concert.
Fields maintained he is not seeking a certificate of innocence for leverage in the lawsuits he's filed against the city but simply to clear his name.
"It's about justice," a transcript of the hearing quoted him as testifying. "It's about what's right."
One of Fields' attorneys, Leonard Goodman, criticized the "unprecedented" deal offered to Hawkins and Derrick Kees, another Rukn killer who tied Fields to the 1984 killings.
"The state is going to let people out of prison to say it their way," Goodman said. "This has never been done in the history — that we can tell — of civil cases."
In exchange for his testimony, Kees had the remaining five years cut from his state sentence but will continue serving the rest of his 25-year federal prison sentence. Hawkins had three years shaved off his sentence.
"They're still serving significant federal time," Assistant State's Attorney Brian Sexton said. "They'll probably be in their 70s when they get out."
Prosecutors allege that Fields was himself a Rukn general who was aware at the time of the trial of the $10,000 the gang paid to Maloney to fix his case. Fields previously served more than 12 years in prison for a 1971 murder in Dixmoor.
"He is not truly innocent," Sexton said of Fields.
sschm@tribune.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting.
Your comment will be held for approval by the blog owner.