Feds indict gang boss with Streator links

Chicago federal prosecutors are saying a gang boss with Streator ties is responsible for 10 murders, including the killing of a Streator man.

Authorities announced Friday that Romeo Blackman has been charged with running the Goonie Boss gang from Chicago’s South Side Englewood neighborhood and murdering 10 people, trying to murder six others and assaulting two.

Blackman, 22, also known as “O” or “O-Dog,” was already charged with taking part in the June 2016 smash-and-grab theft of 20 guns from a gun shop in South Streator. Blackman has pleaded not guilty to the thefts.

Blackman’s codefendants, Keith R. Gullens, 28, and Rashad S. Anchando, 24, pleaded guilty this summer and were sentenced to prison. Anchando is behind bars, but Gullens, of Streator, doesn’t have to report to prison until Nov. 13.

Blackman also has been awaiting sentence for illegally possessing a gun and having heroin in August 2016 in Streator. He has been in custody since that time.

Among the 10 murders laid at Blackman’s feet, is the June 2016 killing of 19-year-old Gerald “Goldie” Bumper, a Blackman associate, who was found shot to death in Englewood eight days after the gun heist. Bumper attended Streator grade and high schools.

The other murders date from July 2016 to January 2014, all occurring in Englewood.

Prosecutors noted the Goonie Boss gang has been in a longstanding fued with several rival Englewood gangs, including Push Squad and T-Love.

Blackman and his gang have used Facebook to coordinate crimes and boast of murders and other illegal activity, according to prosecutors. In connection with the Streator gun heist, the thieves posted a video to Facebook of themselves pointing the guns at the camera, with the gun shop’s sales tags still attached.

The gang also monitored police radio frequencies and threatened witnesses, prosecutors said.

Also charged with Blackman this week in federal court were: Terrance “T” Smith, 22; Jolicious “Jo Jo” Turman, 27; and Nathaniel McElroy, 21, who also goes by “Nate” and “Nation.” All four are charged under the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and could face the death penalty.

Authorities said that in making the case against the four men, they developed other cases against Goonie Boss members or associates who committed other murders and trafficked in illegal guns. At least one of these murder defendants, Lamar Isaac, 35, Chicago, has been in Ottawa, as Ottawa police gave him a no insurance citation after a traffic stop in October 2016.

The FBI and Chicago police spearheaded the investigations, with contributions from La Salle and Livingston County police agencies and prosecutors.