CPD alerts cops that 3 West Side gangs plotting to shoot officers

Leaders from three West Side gang factions allegedly met last week to discuss plans to shoot members of the Chicago Police Department in response to the fatal police shooting of Paul O’Neal.

The meeting took place Thursday between higher-ups from the Vice Lords, Black Disciples and Four Corner Hustlers, according to an alert issued to department members the day after the meeting.

The Four Corner Hustlers “provided guns” and have “a sniper in place” though authorities do not know where, according to the alert. The Four Corner Hustlers also are supplying the other two gangs with automatic weapons, which all three factions also have agreed to use against police, the alert states.

The three gangs are located primarily in the Austin and Harrison districts, which cover much of the West Side.

In an email Monday afternoon, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “To safeguard the integrity of operations, the department does not comment on any security measures.”

According to police sources, department members have also been advised to “limit interactions and visibility.”

Dean Angelo, president of Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police, said “rhetoric” from the attorney representing Paul O’Neal’s family and statements from Independent Police Review Authority head Sharon Fairley were both to blame for threats against police.

“We had inflammatory and false rhetoric coming from [Michael Oppenheimer] and statements that weren’t true,” Angelo said. “You also have a lead investigator in police-involved deaths talking about how shocking and disturbing this is.”

“This should not surprise anyone that we have this type of antagonistic and threatening behavior towards police officers,” Angelo added.

The alleged agreement between the three gangs comes in response to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Paul O’Neal.

Police chased O’Neal into the South Shore neighborhood about 7:30 p.m. July 28 after he allegedly stole a Jaguar from southwest suburban Bolingbrook.

Video released last week showed a chaotic scene leading up to O’Neal’s death, with him being handcuffed in a growing pool of his blood.

The body camera of the officer who fired the deadly shot wasn’t recording, police said, and the Independent Police Review Authority has said there is no other camera angle that shows the fatal shot.

Three officers involved in the shooting were stripped of their police powers by Supt. Eddie Johnson.

The release of the video prompted a new wave of protests in downtown Chicago over the weekend, and one elected official — County Commissioner Richard Boykin — called it a “police execution” and demanded the officers be fired.