Hammond
Vallodolid, Nieto found guilty of federal charges linked to killing of 15-year-old boy
Two gang members from Gary and Hobart were found guilty Tuesday of racketeering and drug charges linked to the killing of a 15-year-old boy.
A jury convicted Darrick Vallodolid, aka “Deuce,” 28, and Robert Nieto, aka “Cowboy,” 44, after an 11-day jury trial in Hammond’s federal court, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no sentencing date had been sent.
The two were each found guilty of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, marijuana and alprazolam, the release states.
“The defendants participated in unspeakable violence on behalf of their vicious Latin Kings gang, including the senseless murder of a 15-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle near an elementary school in Hammond,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan in the release.
Vallodolid shot and killed the Lansing, Ill., teen, Victor Lusinski, on April 12, 2009, with a .22 caliber firearm, believing that Lusinski was a rival gang member, the release states.
On Dec. 2, 2013, Rolando Correa, 22, of Gary, was killed when coming to the aid of his next-door neighbors in Gary who were victims of a home invasion robbery that Nieto assisted in setting up, the release states. Nieto listened to a police scanner to help the robbers escape, according to the release.
Vallodolid and Nieto also each conspired to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana as part of the conspiracy, the release states.
U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II said in the release that “reducing violent crime in northern Indiana is a top priority of my office.”
“Yesterday’s guilty verdict of two killers for the Latin Kings street gang, along with the convictions of dozens of other violent gang members, will take them off of our streets and put them behind bars,” Kirsch said.
Approximately 43 people have been charged with racketeering conspiracy as members of the Latin Kings in a criminal conspiracy that spanned from 2003 until November 2017, the release states. They were involved in murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, sex trafficking and narcotics distribution, according to the release.
“These convictions further demonstrate the Department of Justice’s ongoing and unwavering commitment to attacking the scourge of gang violence on the streets of Chicago, Hammond, Gary and throughout our country,” Cronan said.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Firearms Interdiction Regional Enforcement task force, FBI Gang Responsive Investigative Team and Lake County Sheriff’s Department, as well as East Chicago, Gary and Hammond police.
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