"Supergang" Chief Charged With Killing Federal Informant
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A leader of a so-called "supergang" that allegedly targeted NBA stars for robbery has been charged with the brutal murder of a federal informant.
Paris "Poleroski" Poe, 31, allegedly gunned down informant Keith Daniels, 27, in front of Daniels' young son and girlfriend last year, just days after Daniels was unmasked as a "snitch."
Though he'd been on parole and was supposed to be wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet at the time, Poe went on the run and was allegedly able to dodge authorities for long enough to slay Daniels.
He was eventually caught after a wild chase that saw several schools locked shut ended in Wisconsin.
But although he and seven other alleged members of the "Hobos" street gang were charged in a federal racketeering case last year, it wasn't until Thursday night that prosecutors finally charged Poe in connection with Daniels' murder.
If convicted of obstruction of justice for killing Daniels, Poe could face the death penalty.
The new charges come a week after a middle-ranking member of the gang, Byron "B-Rupt" Brown, agreed to cooperate with the government to avoid the death penalty he might have also faced.
A fresh racketeering indictment now charges nine members of the Hobos, including alleged "Hobo Chief" Poe in connection with eight murders, including the killings of Daniels and another police informant, Wilbert Moore.
The Sun-Times reported last year how Daniels' friends and family said his cooperation had weighed heavily on him in his final months.
Daniels had previously helped Chicago Police solve one of the highest profile murders of 2011 — the stray bullet slaying of young basketball star Darius "Bay Bay" Brown, 13, on a Bronzeville basketball court.
But it was his undercover work wearing a wire against members of the Hobos, Gregory "Bowlegs" Chester and Lance "Double" Dillard, that allegedly led to his death.
The Hobos got their "supergang" moniker because they were made up of hardened previous members of other large Chicago street gangs.
They were in the heroin, gun and murder business. Over the last decade, the crew also specialized in robbing NBA players, police sources said. Investigators, for example, believe the crew was responsible for robbing then-NBA star Antoine Walker of a $55,000 watch outside a near West Side restaurant in 2000.
Three days after Daniels was unmasked as an informant in Chester and Dillard's case, another Hobo, William Ford, was allegedly recorded in a prison phone call discussing how he'd worn a wire, and how Poe was on the run.
Daniels, who was paid a total of $28,000 by the feds for his help, was killed just a day later.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
