Federal agents in Chicago on Monday arrested a suspected Latin Kings leader accused of offering cash bounties to capture and kill a senior immigration officer working with “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois unsealed a criminal complaint Monday charging 37-year-old Chicago resident Juan Espinoza Martinez with a single count of murder for hire.
Martinez was taken into custody Monday morning, though his initial court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros called the alleged plot “an attack on the rule of law.”
The arrest followed a violent weekend in Chicago marked by multiple shootings and clashes with law enforcement.
On Saturday, federal agents arrested two people accused of ramming government vehicles. One suspect, Marimar Martinez, was shot and wounded; the other, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, was taken into custody in a separate but similar incident.
L-R: Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz and Marimar Martinez. (Department of Justice)
Marimar Martinez’s shooting was among 22 incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, leaving 29 people shot and four dead, according to Chicago police.
