Thread: Son will join father in prison for 89 gang murder

Son will join his father in prison for '89 gang murder


June 28, 2008Recommend (1)

Beacon News staff
A former Aurora man who shot a fellow gang member on this father's orders was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison for a 1989 murder.

Michael Luciano, 35, of Mesa, Ariz., was convicted in February of murdering 20-year-old Willie Arce of Aurora, while Arce was in the basement of his Liberty Street home. The conviction is the fourth stemming from "Operation First Degree Burn," a 2007 cold-case murder sweep.

Luciano's father, Angel "Doc" Luciano, 56, of Aurora, is already serving a 38-year prison sentence handed down in December.

According to prosecutors, Angel Luciano was the leader of Aurora's Latin Kings in 1989. Angel Luciano asked the younger Luciano to shoot Arce for violating gang rules. Arce had failed to return drugs and repay money taken from the gang. Luciano fired the two fatal shots through a basement window, prosecutors said.

Both Michael and Angel Luciano are scheduled to stand trial this fall for the 1990 murder of Albert Gonzalez, 18, of Aurora, also part of the cold-case sweep.

In June 2007, "Operation First Degree Burn" charged 31 people in 22 cold-case homicides, many of which stretched back for decades. Aurora police, the Kane County state's attorney's office, the Kane County Sheriff's Department and the FBI participated in the sweep, which was unprecedented in its scope.

Arce's 1989 murder was the oldest case included in the sweep. All of the individuals charged were either members of the Latin Kings or affiliated with the gang, prosecutors said.

Since the "Operation First Degree Burn" was announced, four of the defendants have been convicted. Charges have been dropped against three defendants, one person was acquitted and charges were dismissed in one murder case.



http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beac ... 1.article#

Like father like son! Another example of the wonderful family values these people are so celebrated for.