Lori Lightfoot
Voters had a message for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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[Chicago Mayor Lori] Lightfoot said she’ll propose an ordinance Monday to allow the city’s lawyers to file such lawsuits [against gang members].

She said her proposed anti-gang ordinance isn’t her way of bypassing Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. The mayor has publicly disagreed with Foxx’s handling of gun cases, carjackings and other crimes.

“We can’t wait for anybody else,” Lightfoot said. “We have an opportunity to bring these violent street gangs into civil court, out of the shadows, expose them for what they are — and, if we’re successful, and I think we will be, take their assets and the profit motive for killing our babies.

“We have to put a marker down that we are using every tool in our toolkit to push back against these violent gangs that are leaving a trail of blood and death and misery in their wake.”

John Mauck, an attorney who successfully defended four men against such a lawsuit in Kane County, said Lightfoot’s announcement is “98% political and 2% reality.”

— Frank Main and Fran Spielman in Lightfoot says city will sue gang members to ‘take their assets’

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66 COMMENTS

    • @LamarBlowingMoney Woke Millionaires, Playing a Children’s Game, who Hate America. I can’t believe anyone watches that crap anymore. If you must be a football fan, find a High School Team that’s not Woke and support them The NFL is anti-American and Anti-Freedom.

      • Yeah, the bride and I discovered high school football was still fun 50 years ago, and I bet we would still enjoy it. But we don’t have any interest in NCAA, much less NFL.

    • a punishing defense is tough to beat.
      thankgoodness the mccaskey team still sucks.
      it makes it much easier to ignore the commie martyr bastard flag disrespecting smug entitled prima donna’s.
      the next time any pro’s take a knee i hope it’s in front of a trench.
      oh, and barely related… kanye had his big party a couple weeks ago at soldier field. both kimby and baby groot were denied access at multiple entrance points.

  4. “…into civil court, out of the shadows, expose them for what they are — and, if we’re successful, and I think we will be, take their assets and the profit motive for killing our babies.”

    Isn’t that what the Texas abortion law was all about?

      • Well, some of them probably do. But these aren’t exactly the kind of people who are going to obey turnover orders or asset freeze orders, tell the truth about the location and nature of their assets in a postjudgment deposition (heck, good luck even getting them to show up for one), etc. And if they do have any real property, stock, etc., it’ll be behind all sorts of fronts and blinds.

        But let’s say she hires some really, really good asset tracing attorneys, who somehow manage to figure out where the gangbangers’ assets are stashed and grab it. What do gangbangers usually do when they get ripped off?

        I agree that it’s a lot better than blaming law abiding gun owners, but the observer who calls it “98% political” has it right.

        • Could it be she’s trying to hang a fiscal ball-and-chain on them they can’t even remotely hope to satisfy one day?

          Going after the kinds of folks that get kicked out of ‘rent-to-own’ stores and ‘buy here, pay here’ used car lots seems to be kinda pointless.

          If they want actual deterrence, they’re gonna have to vastly expand the incarceration facilities.

          But, that’s ‘Raycis’…

    • Governor Le Petomane,

      More importantly, Chicago’s Mayor finally stated in public that:
      1) Violent street gangs are a dominant source of violent attacks in Chicago.
      2) Weakening those violent street gangs will reduce violent attacks in Chicago.
      3) Prosecutors/courts are failing spectacularly to weaken violent street gangs.

      Along the same lines, we have yet another recent example of a prominent (at least on the local level) ultra-far Left Democrat breaking ranks and declaring that fellow ultra-far Left Democrats are failing the populace.

      While this approach will likely do next-to-nothing to reduce violent attacks in Chicago, it is a tiny glimmer of hope that even people on the ultra-far Left political spectrum are beginning to wake up and smell the proverbial coffee.

      We live in interesting times when people like Bill Mahr and Lori Lightfoot are trending to the middle.

      • Sadly, I believe you’re pointing out outliers. Maher has always been a broken clock (right twice a day, wrong the rest). I remember a time when about once a month Daily Show host John Stewart would absolutely roast his Democrat Party. And if COVID hasn’t taught you anything, it should be that Democrats will look you straight in the eye, tell you something they know you know is complete bullshit and pretend they just made a cogent point. Then say the exact opposite the very next day.

        • IF you need further proof of this watch that dimwit pansy Sec of State Blinken who right now is lying his way thru a congressional hearing how everything was and is GREAT in Afganistan. And the tallys we work with us.

      • “…we have yet another recent example of a prominent (at least on the local level) ultra-far Left Democrat breaking ranks and declaring that fellow ultra-far Left Democrats are failing the populace.”

        Any chance you have a link on that one?

  5. She knows this won’t work, these people don’t have assets that are easy to get at. Gangs don’t have members with much in the way of assets like a big fat 401k or a house that are easy to tie up in court. They need a car, they steal the car and then strip it and sell the parts when they are done, they don’t go down to the Toyota dealership to buy one. They have plenty of cash, but not where she can put hands on it otherwise, the cops would grab it every time they arrest one of these thugs.

    Why do the people in Chicago keep voting for these losers?

  7. Almost like this scheme was designed explicitly to give the appearance of doing something while accomplishing nothing.

    I saw an interview with the chief this morning. He was going about how the gangs entice joiners by flashing cash and cars and this measure will take those away. How? You may ask. Well, we’ll all have to wait and see as they themselves don’t have any clue how.

  8. Kim Foxx, the Prosecutor is corrupt, so are the Chicago Police and so is the Woke Mayor, Lightfoot. So, on balance, F-Them All.

    If you live in Chicago, my advice is move your business and move your family to a free state like Texas or Florida. Its only going to get worse, not better. Eventually, most areas of Chicago are going to end up like Detroit, so sell now while your property still has some value.

    The real solution to by-pass the George Soros installed prosecutor is to ask your buddy, Uncle Joe to come in with the Just-Us Dept and all the Alphabet agencies and clean your city up. The Feds won’t want to actually put criminals in jail, as they are focused on combatting their political enemies, rather than the Gangs and Criminals who prey upon the poor minorities, etc.

    As long as the criminals stay away from the Affluent areas of Chicago, no one really cares about “Black-on-Black” crime.

  9. “If you live in Chicago, my advice is move your business and move your family to a free state like Texas or Florida. Its only going to get worse, not better. Eventually, most areas of Chicago are going to end up like Detroit, so sell now while your property still has some value.”

    Hell, just moving out of Cook County is a good compromise measure for those who can’t leave the state because of family, etc.

    What a farce? I know Groot isn’t too bright… but c’mon. Even an idiot knows that gangs don’t have legitimate assets. And their members aren’t exactly productive people with assets you can take.

    • the top tier would have to be implicated, assets galore.
      the trickle down chain of command that insulates them, not so much beyond baubles.

      • Groot suing gangbangers is akin to suing Westforth gun shop in Gary for Chiraq’s epic violence. Does Beetlejuice “get” half these thugs are under 18? Bring back chaingangs. Corporal punishment. The death penalty. Street justice. Stop listening to poverty pimps & fake “Christian” idiots. When babies are murdered you’d think real action would take place…instead it’s worse.

        • former water walker,

          “Bring back chaingangs. Corporal punishment. The death penalty. Street justice.”

          I totally empathize with your sentiment and had the same thought. Someone recently educated me that boys growing up in such Hellscapes have an average life expectancy of something like 23 years. That being the case, almost all of them have resigned themselves to an inescapable fate of a violent death at a young age. When that is your mindset, the Death Penalty and Street Justice have zero deterrence.

          The only guaranteed solution is to reestablish the traditional nuclear family with traditional values in those urban Hellscapes. Needless to say, that is probably a near-impossible task.

    • “What a farce? I know Groot isn’t too bright… but c’mon.”

      It could be a strategic move.

      Come election time, she can point at that and claim she “Did something about crime”…

  10. There is no desire to hold the criminals responsible. There never has been. This is theater. If this were real, they wouldn’t be letting the criminals free from their cages in the first place.

  11. So a lawsuit against someone who has no real assets and doesn’t really care about criminal law violations is going to be impacted by this how? I doubt they will even show up for court and if they can’t even keep them in jail for firearm crimes what makes anyone think a simple contempt of court chare is going to even slow their roll.

  12. Now let me guess, Derschowitz gave her this idea in her dream after reading about the tyrannical heartbeat law in Texas … ??? I wouldn’t be surprised nowadays.

  13. mayor lightfeet is a member of the political gang that put the demoCrap between the ears of gullible kids. It’s not what is in their hands it is what is between their ears.

    Many of the offenders find out the hard way about incarceration after they commit a crime. Every school kid in America needs to learn what the consequences of crime are by field trips to jail, prison, etc. And understand the ripple effects of crime. Before graduation they should take a written test concerning crime and its consequences and sign it.

    If you’ve done something that deserves life generally you’ve done something that warrants death in an electric chair, firing squad, etc. The law must be an arm of the victim.

    • You could actually be on to something, in a round-about way.

      Take a young person, sentenced to life without parole, and offer them cash (to be paid to their victims, not the murderous thugs themselves) to voluntarily take the magic needle.

      If it costs 50 thou a year to incarcerate them, and the actuarial tables predict they will live 30 more years, make the payout equal to one-third, for example.

      A truly remorseful convicted murderer could get needed cash to the victim’s family, and free up prison space in the bargain.

      That’s something I think may get a serious look…

  16. If mayor Beetlejuice wants to target gangsters with assets she needs to take on her own political party and sue the teacher’s union into oblivion. The street punks won’t be too cooperative.

  17. I do think the gangs need to be held accountable for their crimes, actually nice to see someone going after the criminals rather than just gun owners, though I can’t imagine many gang members showing up for civil trials or having money for lawyers or to pay anything if they lost a case. This may do about as much as suing ISIS or the Taliban.

  18. There are already mechanisms in place that allow the seizure of property from parties involved in organized crime. All this plan does is lower the bar for the cities officials to do so from “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” subsequent to arrest, to “preponderance of the evidence” without detectives actually doing their jobs by collecting evidence. Who needs real proof when you can just accuse whoever you want and take their shit? If you’re black in Chicago, keep your receipts and your tax returns handy.

  19. the mayor also wants to confiscate all turnip green from chicago urban farmers… to squeeze blood from them…

  20. This sounds like an absolutely brilliant idea (heavy sarcasm)! I mean, instead of enforcing the law, putting the thugs, gangbangers and murderers in JAIL/PRISON, just take them to civil court. Sounds about as effective as the program to PAY these a-holes a monthly check to not commit crimes…see NYC, D.C. and several other crime ridden, progressive run cities.

    • I believe you have hit it! The free money to not commit crimes would actually be available for attachment to pay lawsuit awards! So we could get $1000/mo for the city, paid by the city, if we simply send the many $1000/hour lawyers to sue those bangers, that’ll teach them! Brilliant!

  23. It seems like the easier solution was locking them up instead of giving them sweetheart plea deals.

    But that’s, like, totes racist and stuff.

    • “But that’s, like, totes racist and stuff.”

      Strych, take a look above at an idea I floated that can be a win for all the parties involved…

  24. Civil suits have to be personally served on the defendants, either by a process server or a marshall/deputy sheriff. In Chicago, they will need a SWAT team.

  27. I’m not sure the reason for this play so late in the game. If she really cared, she would have been after the gangs from the start by any legal means possible, from nuisance ordinances to RICO.

    The issue maybe that Chicago’s government and police have been RICO worthy for many,many decades.

  28. Just when you think that individual can’t demonstrate more stupidity than they already have… we get this.

    What, is she going to use RICO to take their fat bank accounts? How, exactly is she going to garnish their street-corner deals? These are CRIMINALS. They literally do not give a fig for being sued. They’re not Good Citizens. They don’t keep assets in banks. Go try to collect from them. What will you need to use? The police. Armed force.

    So: instead of just arresting criminals, prosecuting them, forfeiting the drug proceeds and ordering restitution, the government now proposes to sue them, obtain empty judgments that they cannot collect and… well, there’s no actual way to convert those judgments to cash that doesn’t involve direct confrontation with the criminals.

    Folks, we’ve tried letting the idiots run things so we could be “fair.” It is now abundantly clear idiots cannot run things. How about we get rid of the idiots and send people with some common sense and real-world know-how to office to get things back on track?

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