Two Men Indicted on Federal Racketeering Charges for Allegedly Murdering Teenager To Increase Position in Chicago Street Gang

CHICAGO — Two men have been indicted on federal racketeering charges for allegedly murdering a teenager to maintain and increase their positions in a violent Chicago street gang.

GARY ROBERSON, 40, and JOSEPH MATOS, 41, both of Chicago, are charged with racketeering and firearm offenses in an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.  The indictment accuses the pair of murdering Chrys Carvajal on July 3, 2021, for the purpose of maintaining and increasing their positions in the Milwaukee Kings street gang.  Carvajal, 19, was fatally shot in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

The indictment alleges that the Milwaukee Kings is a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in narcotics trafficking and committed acts of violence, including murder and assault, to acquire and preserve the gang’s perceived territory on the North Side of Chicago.  Members of the gang intimidated rival gang members, victims, and witnesses through acts and threats of violence, boasted about their gang on social media, and took steps designed to prevent law enforcement from detecting their criminal activities, according to the indictment.

Roberson was arrested last month and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.  He was ordered to remain detained in federal custody pending trial.  Matos is not in custody and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Prashant Kolluri, Caitlin Walgamuth, and Kirsten Moran.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  Murder in aid of racketeering is punishable by a mandatory sentence of life in prison, and the death penalty is also possible.   If convicted, the Court must impose reasonable sentences under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.