Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 11-2-18

National
Chicago Gang Led By 22-Year- Old Charged With Using Social Media For Murders
Ballin’: One Of Two $688M Winning Lottery Tickets Sold In Harlem
NEW YORK — The co- owner of a Manhattan deli where someone purchased one of two Powerball tickets that hit the $688 million jackpot said he likely sold the winning ticket, but he has no idea who won.
Jose Espinosa and his fa- ther own the West Harlem Deli, which lottery officials say sold a ticket that matched all six numbers in Saturday night’s drawing for the fourth- largest lottery prize in U.S. his- tory. The ticket holder will split the winnings with whoever purchased the other winning ticket from a convenience store in a small Iowa town.
While helping a steady stream of customers Sunday, the 41-year-old Espinosa joked that he knows he sold the lucky ticket because always working: “I’m always here. I live here.” But he doesn’t know who bought it.
“It wasn’t me,” said cus- tomer Jose Humphreys, a 45-year-old pastor at a nearby church. “But hey, if somebody
Harlem store where lottery ticket was sold.
hit the lottery and they wanted to donate to our church, we would in no way refuse it.”
The other winning ticket was sold at Casey’s conven- ience store in Redfield, Iowa, a rural community of about 800 people roughly 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of Des Moines. A clerk who answered the phone at the store Sunday declined comment and re- ferred questions to lottery offi- cials.
There was no immediate word on who purchased that ticket, either. But both ticket holders beat miserable odds: The chance of winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 292.2 million.
Lottery officials said the ticket sold in Iowa marks the largest lottery prize ever won in the state.
“Even we are awestruck,” Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said Sunday. “This goes to show what we’ve said many times: You never know when the next big winner will hit.”
Rich said anyone who played Powerball in the past few days should double-check their tickets. The winning numbers were 8, 12, 13, 19 and 27, and Powerball 4.
Jackpot winners can’t re- main anonymous in Iowa or New York, and lottery officials encourage winners — who have a year to come forward — to first consult a financial ad- viser.
The drawing came four days after someone won a $1.54 billion Mega Millions jackpot, which marked the na- tion’s second-largest lottery prize ever. That ticket was sold in South Carolina, where lot- tery winners can remain anonymous.
CHICAGO (AP) — Mem- bers of a Chicago street gang suspected of killing at least 11 people and terrorizing a South Side neighborhood for years have been charged as part of a joint federal and state investigation announced Friday.
The Goonie Boss faction, under purported leader, 22- year-old Romeo “O-Dog” Blackman, operated in the Englewood neighborhood, killing rivals, issuing threats through social media, boast- ing online about acts of vio- lence and threatening witnesses, according to charg- ing documents unsealed Fri- day.
“It’s a significant day here in Englewood,” Jeffrey Sal- let, head of the FBI’s Chicago office, said at a news confer- ence announcing the charges. “We are bringing the full weight of the federal govern- ment to the violence that’s plaguing these neighbor- hoods.”
Unusually for such a case, filings don’t say the Goonie gang resorted to violence to protect lucrative drug turf. They stress instead how gang members seemed to obsess over burnishing their reputa- tion for fearsomeness and over boosting their gangland status.
In all, 23 people have been charged from the investiga- tion that goes back two years. It relied heavily on informa- tion gleaned from social media postings, U. S. Attor- ney John Lausch said, adding the investigators were able to “exploit that informa- tion in order to get good evi- dence.”
It’s among the first gang cases to emphasize gangs’ em- brace of social media to goad foes or brag about their crimes. Some investigators now specialize in cyber- sleuthing, spending much of their time searching Face- book, Twitter and other sites for evidence to charge gang members.
Blackman, who was al- ready in custody on other charges, and three others are charged federally with a rack- eteering conspiracy that al- leges 10 killings and six attempted killings. Convic- tions could carry life sen- tences. A fifth member is charged in state court with first-degree murder in an 11th slaying. Filings didn’t include defense lawyers’ names.
Among those killed was
Romeo Blackman, reputed head of the Goonie Boss gang crew, was implicated in seven killings in a federal indictment unsealed Friday.
Gerald Sias, a 38-year-old fatally shot in an Englewood barbershop on May 26, 2016. Most of the other victims were in their late teens and 20s.
Top-down gangs in which kingpins give orders that everyone down the chain of command follows are largely a thing of the past in Chicago. Many powerful gang leaders in the 1990s and 2000s were prosecuted, leaving younger, less-disciplined gang mem- bers vying for influence.
The Goonie gang, which is loosely affiliated with the Gangster Disciples, has long- running feuds with other fac- tions in Englewood, such as the Push Squad and TLove.
Many experts have said successful prosecutions have led to greater gang chaos, leading to the unintended consequence of more gang vi- olence. Lausch, the federal prosecutor, said authorities are aware of the phenomenon of vacuums being created when gangs’ top members are arrested.
“We are anticipating who we think is going to step up and fill that vacuum,” he said.
Also Friday, Chicago Police Department spokesman An- thony Guglielmi said gang retaliation appears to have played a role in two South Side shootings this week.
Guglielmi said there was a “high probability” that an at- tack that wounded five people Wednesday was in retaliation for a shooting during a fu- neral Monday in which six people were wounded, includ- ing aspiring 21-year-old rap- per Marvel “FBG Wooski” Williams. Williams is known for challenging rivals in rap songs.
No arrests have been made in either shooting.
Police Search For Wealthy N. J. Lawyer On The Run On Charges Of Killing Financial Adviser Girlfriend
Police in one of New Jersey’s wealthiest zip codes are inves- tigating the death of a well- liked financial adviser while her significant other, a promi- nent lawyer who also has an MBA, is on the run in his BMW, police are telling North- Jersey.com.
Essex County, N.J., police say James R. Ray III, 55, is charged in the death of An- gela Bledsoe, 44, who re- cently moved with her daughter, Alana, 6, from her home in Crown Heights in New York’s borough of Brooklyn to Ray’s home in Upper Mont- clair.
On Tuesday morning, au-
James R. Ray, III has been charged in the death of his girl- friend.
thorities carried out Bled- soe’s body, riddled with bul-
lets, from the home they’d shared.
Bledsoe was well known in her community, active with fel- low alumni of Florida A & M University, with her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, and with politics. She’d previously worked with JPMorgan Chase and most recently, Securities America in New York, North- Jersey.com reported.
“This is very shocking,” New York State Assembly- woman Rodneyse Bi- chotte told the news organiza- tion.
Bichotte, who is from Brooklyn, worked with Bled- soe as a volunteer.
Iowa Teacher Under Fire For Wearing Black Face To Halloween Party
It’s that time of year again, where white people show their collective ignorance and will- fully dress up in blackface even though they’ve been told time and time again that it’s racist and harmful.
Apparently, Megyn Kelly wasn’t the only one who didn’t get the memo that blackface is offensive. Davenport, Iowa first grade teacher Megan Luloff took it upon herself to dress as Lafawnduh, a black charter from the movie Napoleon Dynamite, complete with full on black- face, her arms and face painted black, according to the Water- loo-Cedar Falls Courier.
The Davenport School Dis- trict is now investigating the Walcott Elementary School teacher.
“The wearing of blackface is never appropriate in any cir- cumstance by any person,” Su- perintendent Art Tate said in an email. “The issue is under
investigation by the district.” That being said, the school district is already under state supervision due, according to the Courier, “a disproportion- ate number of minority stu- dents have been identified for special education and subject
to disciplinary actions.”
So remember non-black
people, before you expose yourself with dumb costumes, just know that you can dress up as Black people, or Black characters without painting yourself Black. If your costume is good enough, people will get it. Do better, prepare better. Don’t be a racist for Hal- loween.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-B