The man federal attorneys say brought the Two Six street gang to Northwest Indiana is admitting he’s responsible for the murder of four people dating back as far as 24 years ago.
According to a plea deal filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond, Jesus “Chu Chu” Fuentes, 41, who has connections to East Chicago and Chicago, has agreed to plead guilty to one count each of murder resulting from the use of a firearm during a violent crime and conspiracy to racketeer.
According to court records, Fuentes’ change of plea hearing was set for Tuesday, but it was unclear if it took place. His attorney could not be reached for comment.
The plea deal includes a binding sentence of 30 years, meaning if a federal judge accepts it, he must sentence Fuentes to that term.
The murder count is in relation to the homicide of Julio Cartagena, a fellow Two Six gang member who Fuentes suspected of stealing drugs from him.
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According to court records, Fuentes, who was then a leader of the Two Six gang in East Chicago, ordered fellow gang members to kidnap Cartagena in November 2002. The gang members botched the kidnapping attempt in May 2003, however, instead shooting and killing him.
No one was charged in Cartagena’s death until several years ago, when the federal charges were announced.
Although Fuentes is pleading guilty to just one murder, he’s also accepting responsibility for three more as part of the deal. Those include the shooting death of Alberto Guzman in 1999 in East Chicago, according to court documents. Guzman was a member of the rival Imperial Gangsters, and other Two Six members have since admitted that Fuentes ordered them to kill an Imperial Gangster in retaliation for one shooting a Two Six member, documents said.
He also admits responsibility to the murder of Edwardo Miranda, who was killed on Oct. 30, 1997, according to court documents. No information on his killing was available as of Tuesday evening. The fourth murder in court documents is that of Miguel Fernandez, who was found shot to death on Jan. 5, 1991, in an alley in East Chicago.
Fuentes would have been about 17 when Fernandez was killed.
Along with the murders, he’s also accepting responsibility for more than 150 to 450 kilograms of cocaine and 3,000 to 10,000 kilograms of marijuana.