"Man guilty of selling guns to Chicago gang members gets 16 years"

[DonP]

Finally! Glad to hear they are starting to take these straw purchase cases seriously with sentences to match. For years these cases were either not prosecuted by the local DoJ team or the straw purchase charges went away as part of a plea agreement. Sentencing for his source Vana is next week.

"A west suburban man was sentenced to 16 years in prison Wednesday for selling at least 80 guns to people he knew were Chicago gang members, officials said. Walter Freeman, 36, of Lisle, was sentenced after he was found guilty of selling revolvers and semi-automatic weapons to gang members, according to a statement from U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the plea agreement, Freeman traded crack cocaine to a co-defendant, Timothy Vana, 54, of Forest Park, for the guns. He also admitted to selling about 7 grams of crack cocaine per week from 2008-2013, prosecutors said. Many of the guns he sold were used in shootings and other crimes in and around Chicago, the statement said.

The “defendant’s possession and sale of at least 80 weapons directly contributed to the violence that our city faces,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Levin said in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “He has victimized the entire Chicago community.”

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1113435/man-sentenced-knowingly-selling-firearms-gang-members

[JonathanRackham]

1. Only 16 years?

Where's the outrage?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

2. Rounding up that's a bout 73 days per gun

Tell me again why we have laws that allow for 10 years.

I think if you were making a permitted purchase of a gun but you could get more time for paying with a bad check.

[DonP]

3. "Plea Agreement" - because it looks like he sang like a nightengale?

I'm guessing since he gave up all his sources and contacts, including some gang member names (that will be an issue in the joint) and pled guilty they shaved time off the sentence in return?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. The addict who bought...

...gives up his sources and customers and gets a deal.
They give up gang leaders and get deals.
The leaders give up drug sources and get deals.
The drug sources give up some major dealers and smugglers and get deals.
The major dealers and smugglers are nameless faceless folk who are based in non-extradition countries; no deal required.

You and I...
...we pay for the deals. Where's the problem?