Gang Member Sentenced for Gang Related Activity Resulting in the Murders of 16-Year Old and 33 Year-Old

HAMMOND- Eduardo Luciano, 35, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced by the United States District Court Senior Judge Jon E. DeGuilio, after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute cocaine and marijuana, and two counts of using a firearm to commit murder, announced U.S. Attorney Clifford. D. Johnson.

Luciano was sentenced to two Life sentences in prison for using a firearm to commit each murder.  He was also sentenced to Life in prison for conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity along with 240 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute cocaine and marijuana.  All sentences are to run concurrently.

According to documents in this case, on June 29, 2015, Luciano, who was a leader of the Hammond faction of the Latin Counts, a criminal street gang, and other Latin Count members formulated a plan to shoot and kill members of the Latin Kings, a rival criminal street gang.  The Latin Kings were attending a vigil for a slain member on the 5500 block of Beall Avenue in Hammond, Indiana.  After planning the shooting, gang members drove to the vicinity of the vigil and fired multiple shots into the crowd.  Christopher White (33), who was visiting family on Beall Avenue, was shot in front of the family member’s home, and later died.   Lauren Calvillo (16) was shot and killed while on the front porch of her family’s Beall Avenue home. 

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives/High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the Hammond, Indiana Police Department with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation/Gang Response Investigative Team, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshal’s Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, the Indiana State Police, the Gary Police Department, the East Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Police Department, and the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office.   The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys David J. Nozick, Caitlin M. Padula, and Kimberly L. Schultz.

This case is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.