An Illinois man threatened federal witnesses who testified against his street gang on social media. Now, he will pay a price for it.
Recently, U.S. District Court U.S. Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced Javion Bush to six years in federal prison for the death threats against two cooperating witnesses in a government investigation into the activities of the Goonie Gang.
Bush, a member of the street gang, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after authorities were alerted to his Facebook post naming two cooperating witnesses, tagging their social media accounts, and stating, “All Rats Must Die.”
“Without witnesses, the truth about an incident will never be found. Witnesses should be protected at all costs and threatening them should be sanctioned swiftly and severely,” stated Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Berry III, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
At the time, the federal government had been investigating the Goonie Gang for years. It had provided enforcement documents to another of its members who were being tried for murder in Illinois. As a result, the 23-year-old defendant read the document and discovered the identities of the witnesses.
The investigation led to the conviction of three Goonie Gang members for six murders in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. In addition, several other associates were convicted of racketeering conspiracy.
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