Second gang member on ‘security’ duty charged with 2015 murder

The second alleged gang member behind the fatal shooting of a rival gang member in 2015 in the Southwest Side Garfield Ridge neighborhood has been charged.

The two men were working “security” for a towing company that hired Satan’s Disciples gang members to protect its trucks from rival towing companies, which in turn were protected by rivals of the Satan’s Disciples, Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said Tuesday during a bond hearing for Carlos D. Cregan at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

Cregan and Jonathan Rodriguez, both 30, were apparently on call the night of Aug. 22, 2015, when they went to a bar in Clearing, prosecutors allege. At the bar, the pair met Leonardo Morales, who, during the course of the evening, told the men he was a former member of the rival 2-6 street gang.

The night ended with the three men in an alley in the 5200 block of South Menard, where Cregan and Rodriguez shot him repeatedly, authorities said. Morales, 34, a Little Village resident, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cregan on Tuesday was ordered held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder. Rodriguez was ordered held without bond at a hearing Wednesday, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. Both are scheduled to appear in court next on Oct. 23.