Labar Spann, a member of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, seen in a social media image. (U.S. District Court) (U.S. District Court)
Labar Spann told a federal jury last week that he was a gangster, but not a gang leader.
In fact, he said he left the Four Corner Hustlers in the late 1990s and went “outlaw,” robbing and extorting people on his own.
But more than a decade later, Spann was caught on a secret FBI recording giving what federal prosecutors say was a veritable “TED Talk” on his leadership style, including how real power comes from being upfront with people.
“You get your juice off of guidance,” Spann said on the 2012 recording, which was played during closing arguments Monday in his federal racketeering trial. “You got to know how to lead a crowd.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Storino said the recording, as well as a mountain of other evidence presented over the past eight weeks, show Spann was at the helm of a criminal enterprise that terrorized a section of the city’s West Side for years.
Spann’s testimony that he was a loner, Storino said, was “preposterous.”
“He is a smart, ruthless and manipulative gang leader,” Storino told the jury. “He is a person who kills, he robs, he extorts and intimidates others, all in furtherance of his gang the Four Corner Hustlers. And he has done it for over two decades.”
Spann, 44, was charged in a sweeping 2017 racketeering indictment alleging his conspired with others to commit six gangland murders from 2000 to 2003, including the infamous contract killing of Latin Kings boss Rudy “Kato” Rangel.
Prosecutors have alleged Spann took over the reins of the gang after he was shot and paralyzed in 1999, using murder to elevate the gang’s reputation for ruthlessness as well as his own street cred.
His attorney, however, has denied Spann was part of any enterprise, saying the Four Corner Hustlers was really just a loose connection of factions where everyone was looking out for themselves, not some greater organization.
Closing arguments in the case began Monday in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin, who told the jury that they’ll likely start deliberations Tuesday.
Over eight weeks of testimony, jurors heard graphic details of how Spann allegedly plotted and, in some cases, participated in the six slayings charged in the indictment. A total of 18 witnesses identified Spann as the leader of the Four Corner Hustlers, Storino said.
In a risky move, Spann took the witness stand in his own defense last week and repeatedly admitted he was an old-school “gangster” whom others turned to for help and treated with respect.
But he denied participation in any of the killings. As his attorney took him one by one through the charges in the indictment, Spann grew louder in his denials, yelling, “No — hell no! None of that (expletive),” when asked if he was responsible for the 2000 slaying of Maximillion McDaniel.
He testified similarly when asked about Rangel’s killing, saying he had no idea who the Latin Kings boss even was when he heard Rangel had been shot.
On cross-examination, Spann testified that when he found out he was being set up or double-crossed, his style wasn’t to resort to violence, it was to “put my ears to the streets” and do a “thorough investigation.”
“I’m not just gonna jump out like that,” he said. “That’s why my name ‘Bro Man.’ I do what I want.”
He lost his composure briefly when asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kavitha Babu whether he had anything to do with the killing of a man nicknamed “Foots,” which occurred in Four Corner Hustlers territory in 2003.
“What the (expletive) am I gonna kill Foots for? That sound dumb as hell,” Spann responded in a tone of disbelief. “You gotta think!”
In his closing argument Monday, Storino said many of the crimes committed by Spann were in furtherance of gang’s reputation for ruthlessness. He reminded jurors of the reluctant testimony of some of the cooperators, noting how you could see the fear “in the faces of the witnesses.”
“The point was to keep people in fear,” Storino said.
At one point, Storino put up an Instagram post from one of Spann’s associates featuring an image of Spann and a not-so-subtle threat to rivals.
“IF I PUT #BRAMAN ON YOUR (expletive), THAN YOU #DEAD, 4REAL” the post by Rontrell Turnipseed read. “We got #Killers that #Kill.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
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