[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’
