Dozens indicted in 22 Aurora area ‘cold case’ murders

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/home/449466,AU29_COLDCASE_WEB.article

June 29, 2007
BY BEACON NEWS STAFF
AURORA — A former Aurora gang leader already serving 20 years in prison is one of 31 people named in indictments Friday in 22 “cold case” homicides.
Authorities this afternoon announced charges in the 22 murders in and around Aurora in an unprecedented break in previously unsolved slayings dating back nearly two decades.
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Marie DeJesus, center and Jennifer Salinas, right, both of Aurora, react after police announce charges against two men in the 1996 shooting death of Noe Salinas, Dejesus' cousin and Salinas' brother.

(Heather Eidson/Staff Photographer)

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Aurora Police Chief Bill Powell (left) and Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti announced indictments in 22 gang-related murders solved by a Cold Case Task Force.

(STNG Photo Graphic)

RELATED STORIES
• Online: Beacon Blog
• Press Release: Charges listed (Adobe PDF)
RELATED PDF
• List of charges

Aurora police, the FBI, the Kane County state’s attorney’s office and the Kane sheriff’s office made public today indictments against 31 suspects at a press conference at the county Judicial Center in St. Charles Township. Nineteen of those named were arrested in sweeps since Wednesday. Ten others already were in custody, authorities said, and two others remain at large.
Officials are calling the sweep the biggest in the history of the Aurora Police Department. Many of the murders are classified as gang-related.
“This is the result of a lot of hard work — hundreds and thousands of hours of work,” said Aurora Police Chief Bill Powell. “The impact I think this is going to have is, ‘Wow.’ ... The results are astounding, as you can see.”
Among those named in the murder indictments is Angel “Doc” Luciano, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1994 on cocaine charges. Luciano, 43 at the time, was the leader of one of Aurora’s largest street gangs, prosecutors said. He already had served three stints in prison for weapons and drug offenses.
Authorities said some of the murders solved in this investigation were:
 Steven Quigley, a 17-year-old killed when shots were fired through a window of his home in April 2000. Quigley’s younger brother, Matthew, was convicted of two separate gang murders earlier this year.

Great job, Aurora Police and Cane County LE!! :clap:

Excellent news and excellent job by the Aurora PD and the Cane County LE! I do love justice!

Lion

The first thing I said when I started reading this was "WOW!" Isn't that just amazing. I wish other police departments would take a lesson from this one and do the same with their cold cases. I guess it takes about five different agencys to pull this but if the other agencys helped this police department why can't that be done elsewhere?