Reputed gang member convicted of 1999 murder of kidnapped Broadview man

After Darryl Green was kidnapped from a west suburban beeper store in 1999, his kidnappers called his twin brother to demand a ransom.

But after a few calls, the negotiations came to a halt and a kidnapper said: “Make arrangements for your brother.” Police recorded the grim call.

Green was taken to a secluded area in Gary, where witnesses heard shots fired from the woods. Police found his body with three bullet wounds to the head.

On Tuesday, a Cook County jury deliberated about 90 minutes before finding Kevin Mitchell, 47, guilty of the kidnapping and murder. Police investigating the cold case had linked Mitchell to the slaying after tests confirmed Green’s DNA was in a van that Mitchell was known to drive in 1999, Cook County prosecutors said.

Mitchell was charged in the killing in 2013. Two other men involved in the kidnapping have pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder. David McAfee received a 30-year sentence, and Raymond Winters was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Charges are pending against a fourth defendant, Dimeyon Cole, officials said.

The killing of Green, who was kidnapped from the Beep the Twinz store in Broadview on June 18, 1999, was mentioned in a larger racketeering case that Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez brought against members of the Black Souls street gang about two years ago. Dozens of defendants have been charged.

That investigation, called Operation .40-Cal, began after Claude Snulligan was fatally shot in the head with a .40-caliber bullet on Oct. 20, 2012, on the West Side. Black Souls members allegedly killed him because he told the cops that the gang was selling drugs in front of his home.

The 47-year-old Mitchell, who moved from the West Side to Northwestern Indiana, allegedly was a member of the Black Souls, authorities said. The FBI, Cook County Sheriff’s police and Broadview police investigated Green’s murder. It was one of six murders listed in the racketeering case as examples of the gang’s crimes, officials say.

One of those murder victims, Charles Watson, was killed and buried upside down in 2002 in a West Side yard after the Black Souls accused him of stealing money and drugs from the gang. One member of the Black Souls allegedly told police that Watson’s burial enforced the gang’s motto: “Death before dishonor.”