GANG TRIAL STAR WITNESS HAD CONNECTION TO TOP

A former boyfriend of Gangster Disciples leader Larry Hoover's sister made
incriminating tape-recordings of other gang higher-ups after his 1996
arrest, prosecutors revealed Thursday at the start of yet another trial of
the gang's leaders.

"It's not what you know, it's who you know," Assistant U.S. Atty. David
Styler told jurors as he explained how the government's star witness,
Presley Patterson, rose to the rank of governor in the gang.

Patterson wore a hidden recorder for authorities as he regularly collected
drug money from other gang governors and turned the cash over to defendant
Jeffrey Hatcher, according to prosecutors.

Hatcher, four other gang leaders and one alleged drug supplier for the
Gangster Disciples (GD) are on trial on drug conspiracy charges in federal
court. It marks the fourth multi-defendant trial involving the gang's
leaders in the last 2 1/2 years.

Patterson began cooperating with authorities after he was arrested on
weapons charges as he tried to visit Stateville Correctional Center in May,
1996, according to government court filings. He was the boyfriend of
Hoover's sister, Diane Cooper, at the time.

Styler told jurors that after Hoover and 38 gang leaders and associates
were indicted in 1995, Hatcher, while out on bond in that case, ran the
gang's day-to-day operations.

But Hatcher was on an electronic monitoring program that forced him to be
home on a curfew and limited his gang activities.

In the void, co-defendants Jimmie Gholson and Bryan Crenshaw both jockeyed
to lead the gang, each rising to the gang's board of directors, the rank
just below Hoover, prosecutors contended.

"They seized their opportunity to rise up in the organization," Styler told
jurors.

Alerted to Hatcher's continued drug dealings by Patterson's undercover
tapes, prosecutors moved to revoke his bond, prompting Hatcher to flee.

He was arrested about a year later in Wisconsin.

Also on trial are Compton Jones, Roland Tetteh and Nazareth Wilson.