Senator CURTIS. Have you seen anyone beaten up because they would not join the Blackstone Rangers? Mr. DORENZO. A number of times, yes. The CHAIRMAN. So you left school, you are testifying now that you left school because of the Blackstone Rangers? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Because of their threats and their intimidation? The CHAIRMAN. Trying to make you join their organization? The CHAIRMAN. When you refused to join, did they beat you up or threaten you? Mr. DORENZO. They tried one night but we were not in the boys club when they come there, I believe. They just wrecked the place, they shot it up. The CHAIRMAN. They shot it up? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Did you belong to the boys club? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Did that frighten you a little? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. I still belong to the boys club. The CHAIRMAN. You later joined this other gang which is in Englewood? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. Senator MUNDT. Who runs the boys club? Mr. DORENZO. It is directed by Ed Swope and program director Dan Woods. He had some dealings with the Rangers. Senator MUNDT. Is that sponsored by a community organization or by some church or by the Federal Government, or by the city? Or by the police? Who runs it? Who finances it? Mr. DORENZO. I believe they get their funds, I don't know where they get their funds from. Senator MUNDT. It isn't a gang? Mr. DORENZO. It is a boys club. Senator MUNDT. Who were the Blackstone Rangers who intimidated you or threatened you, tried to get you to drop out of school and join their group? Do you remember any of their names? Mr. DORENZO. The first one that brought the idea to me was Eugene Hairston and Jeff Fort. Senator MUNDT. Eugene Hairston and Jeff Fort? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. Those are the only two men. Senator MUNDT. What kind of selling pitch would they give you? Mr. DORENZO. They tried to show me how much money I would make really, you know; not really refuse me from school because I would have to go in the neighborhood anyway, to go to school, but to get me to join their club because they wanted the part of the community I lived in and which I had boys that would listen to me. Senator MUNDT. How would you make money? Mr. DORENZO. By running extortion, you know. Senator MUNDT. They told you about an extortion ring they were running? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, previously. They didn't tell me how much money I would make but they gave me ideas to try to encourage me to be a member of the Blackstone Rangers at that time. Senator MUNDT. And you would get a piece of the action? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Who was the head of the Disciples? Mr. DORENZO. David Barksdale. The CHAIRMAN. Is he still head of it? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. When did you last have contact with him? The CHAIRMAN. On June 18? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Do you remember that day? Mr. DORENZO. I remember it very well. The CHAIRMAN. We will get to that in a minute but I would like to have a little more information about who makes up your group. We have a chart showing the Disciples which you have seen, I assume. Here is this chart we now present. Have you examined this chart? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. In respect to the Disciples? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Has it been made up largely from information you gave the staff as to who the Disciples were, who the ruling group in the Disciples is? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Who was David Barksdale? He is your president? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. His nickname is the "Devil"? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. That is why it is called the Devil's Disciples? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. He is the Devil and the rest of them are Disciples, is that the way it is organized? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You were the vice president? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know whether Barksdale has a criminal record or not? Mr. DORENZO. No, I don't. I know he served time in the Illinois Youth Commission. The CHAIRMAN. Served time where? Mr. DORENZO. Illinois Youth Commission. The CHAIRMAN. Is that where they send juveniles? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. So he had some kind of record because he was in there. Let us take your case now; how much time have you served? Have you ever been convicted of anything? Mr. DORENZO. No, sir. I served a 30-day period, a sit-out period, while going to trial on this murder charge. The CHAIRMAN. On the murder charge? Were you placed on probation once for narcotics? Mr. DORENZO. On supervision. The CHAIRMAN. One year's supervision for the possession of narcotics. Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How old were you then? Mr. DORENZO. I believe I was 18, 17 or 18. The CHAIRMAN. Are you still under that supervision? Mr. DORENZO. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. When did it expire? Mr. DORENZo. I believe in October. The CHAIRMAN. Did that offense occur while you were a member of the Deacons? Mr. DORENZO. Of the Disciples? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. DORENZO. Yes, it did. The CHAIRMAN. This is one of your activities after you joined them? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Next you have been arrested here on other counts of intimidation and disorderly conduct. I note you were discharged from that. Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You were also arrested on a theft charge, were you? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Discharged there for want of prosecution. Then you were arrested for murder. Is that correct? Mr. DORENZo. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Have you been released from that charge? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, I have been dismissed on the murder charge. I was found not guilty. The CHAIRMAN. When were you dismissed on the murder charge? Mr. DORENZO. I believe it was in May, sometime. The CHAIRMAN. In May sometime? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. May 12, I believe. The CHAIRMAN. You got out May 12? Mr. DORENZO. I was released, I was found not guilty May 12, I believe it was. The CHAIRMAN. You have been out on bond? Mr. DORENZO. I was out on bond after the Coroner's inquiry. The CHAIRMAN. Was it a jury trial or just dismissal? Mr. DORENZO. Dismissal because I was found not guilty for insufficient evidence. The CHAIRMAN. They found who actually committed the murder, did they? Mr. DORENZO. They have a boy on trial for it now. Did the dismissal of the murder charges against you happen before anyone talked to you about being a witness here? Mr. DORENZO. No, sir. Senator CURTIS. Which happened first? I don't know if you understood my question. Mr. DORENZO. You mean before I came in front of this committee? Senator CURTIS. Yes, or any of the investigators having seen you? Mr. DORENZO. No, sir. There was no promise made to me, you know. Senator CURTIS. The charge wasn't dismissed because somebody promised you dismissal if you would give information to the police or to this committee or to anybody else? Mr. DORENZO. No, sir. Senator CURTIS. The prosecutor himself moved for dismissal? Mr. DORENZO. The State's Attorney's Office which-the prosecutor attorney called the State's Attorney's Office, his boss, I believe, and they said they were not going to prosecute me because there was not enough evidence to hold me on this charge. Senator CURTIS. It had nothing to do with your giving information to the police or this committee or any investigating body? Mr. DORENZO. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. I want to get these others identified. Who is War Lord Shead? Mr. DORENZO. Minjo Shead was War Lord. Known as "Preacher." The CHAIRMAN. Known as "Preacher"? Mr. DORENZO. That is Minjo Shead. The CHAIRMAN. What are his duties? Mr. DORENZO. To carry out the shooting and the running of the group, possibly. The CHAIRMAN. Shooting and the running of what? Mr. DORENZO. Of the Disciples. The CHAIRMAN. Is he kind of an enforcement officer? Mr. DORENZO. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How does he enforce? Mr. DORENZO. With his fist and other ways that he can get around people. The CHAIRMAN. With his fist and other ways? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. You are talking about maintaining discipline in the Disciples? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. He is the enforcer? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Does he carry out the orders given by Barksdale? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. What were your duties as vice president? Mr. DORENZO. My duties as vice president were mainly to see that the things that we needed as far as, you know, our ballroom, things that are concerned. Anything that I didn't want to handle I could pass it on to another leader. The CHAIRMAN. You could pass it on to another leader. The CHAIRMAN. Were orders passed on through you by Barksdale and others? Mr. DORENZo. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Would you give orders to Shead that Barksdale would give to you for him? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Let us go to Roy Dawson, another war lord. Is he an enforcer, too? Mr. DORENZo. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. He had the same duties that Shead had? Mr. DORENZo. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Enforced in the same way? Mr. DORENZo. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Who is Robert Allen? We don't have his picture. Dawson went by the nickname Kilroy? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Robert Allen, we have not secured his picture yet. We will probably get it later. You know him, do you? Mr. DORENZO. I do. The CHAIRMAN. What did he do? Mr. DORENZO. In the group? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. DORENZO. Mainly he was bodyguard for David Barksdale. He was with him a lot. The CHAIRMAN. Barksdale had him as a bodyguard? Mr. DORENZo. He had three or four. The CHAIRMAN. Danny Newell, what was he? Super Cool? Mr. DORENZO. That was his nickname. The CHAIRMAN. What did that signifiy about him? Any particular characteristic? Mr. DORENZO. By the way he dressed, you know. The CHAIRMAN. By what? Mr. DORENZO. By the way he dressed. He dressed real clean, yes. The CHAIRMAN. What were his duties? Mr. DORENZO. Mainly he was with me a lot. The CHAIRMAN. He was your bodyguard? Mr. DORENZO. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. They called him Super Cool? Mr. DORENZO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. How about Jonah Hardy? What about him? The CHAIRMAN. I know, They called him Pooky? Mr. DORENZO. Pooky; yes. The CHAIRMAN. What duties did he perform? Mr. DORENZO. Mostly sergeant at arms at the meetings, you know,. and helping in the dances in the ballroom. The CHAIRMAN. Who was Pluto? Mr. DORENZO. Pluto was assistant instructor in the school. The CHAIRMAN. He was an assistant instructor in the school? Mr. DORENZO. In the OEO project. The CHAIRMAN. Do we have what his salary is? We will show that later. On all the rest of these I am going to hurry along. Following |