A person walks outside the U.S. Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago on April 13, 2023.
The last-minute guilty plea Tuesday came shortly before jury selection began for three of McElroy’s alleged associates: Romeo “O-Dog” Blackman, 27, who was the alleged leader of the Goonies, and top henchman Terrance “T” Smith, 27, and Jolicious “Jo Jo” Turman, 31.The trial before U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey is taking place under heavy security, with metal detectors posted outside the courtroom and spectators required to lock up their cellphones.
“It was killing for the sake of killing,” Chicago police Sgt. Charles Daly, who helped put the case together, told the Tribune when the indictment was brought in 2018.Among the evidence is a disturbing video that was streamed live on Facebook following the January 2016 slaying of a Goonie rival.
Sias’ father, Gerald Sr., told the Tribune in 2018 that his son was simply trying to get his hair cut for a party on the day he was killed. Asked about the allegations that the gunmen were committing violence simply for street status, the father called the situation “crazy.” In a sign of the fractured and often fickle nature of gang cliques in Chicago, the case against the Goonies was built largely on social media and jail calls, not traditional wiretaps.