CHICAGO (STMW) – A west suburban Aurora man convicted of leading a drug ring on the West Side was sentenced to 38 years in prison on Friday in Federal Court.

New Breeds street gang leader Dana Bostic, 33, of Aurora, pleaded guilty in February to criminal drug conspiracy related to a 12-square block, $10,000-per-day retail heroin operation centered around Pulaski Avenue and Van Buren Street on Chicago’s West Side.

In giving Bostic 38 years Friday, Federal Judge Matthew F. Kennelly leaned toward the 40-year sentence sought by prosecutors — rather than the 20 years sought by the defense. Bostic was eligible for a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.

Three of Bostic’s indicted co-conspirators testified against him. All three had signed plea agreements that required them to cooperate with the government.

In asking for the 40-year sentence, federal prosecutors argued that Bostic is a career criminal responsible for running a major retail heroin operation for nearly a decade, one protected by lethal armed violence that was responsible for numerous shootings and murders in the Lawndale and Austin neighborhoods.

Bostic’s attorneys, Beau Brindley and Joshua Jones, asked that he be sentenced to no more than 20 years, saying he is as much a victim of society and its educational and legal systems as he is a criminal.

Brindley also insisted that prosecutors failed to connect Bostic to any specific acts of violence, or even establish him as the gang’s top leader.

In his February plea declaration, Bostic admitted to arranging transactions between a wholesale drug supplier and fellow New Breed gang member Brandon Richards in 2009 and 2010, but he cast himself as a middleman between the deals, not the gang’s leader.

Prosecutors, however, said Richards was brought in as Bostic’s right-hand man in 2008, after two previous lieutenants were murdered.

Maurice Davis, who admitted he was a former triggerman for Bostic’s heroin operation, described numerous shootings and murders he committed, allegedly at Bostic’s behest.

Davis, who faced a prison term of 27 years, will receive a reduced sentence of 15 to 20 years for his cooperation.

Davis, also known as “Capone,” identified himself as one of Bostic’s shooters in an ongoing gang war with the Four Corner Hustlers and Undertaker Vice Lords street gangs on the West Side. He also identified Bostic as the chief and major decision maker of the heroin operation.

“Of all the defendants in this case, only Bostic himself appears not to recognize who was in charge,” lead prosecutor Megan Cunniff Church wrote in a recent court filing.

Bostic, she said, “is responsible for violence, intimidation, and murders. Bostic controlled his territory and his organization through violence and intimidation. As (another alleged Bostic lieutenant) Ladonta Gill admitted in his post-arrest statement, Bostic broke his hand with a baseball bat after Gill was short $400 in drug proceeds.”

In her presentencing report reply, Church urged the judge to hold Bostic accountable for an “entire life and livelihood have been criminal.”

“Even after being acquitted of murder (in 2006), he did not change his behavior. He did not start trying to lead a better life.”

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