CeaseFire has become the new Mayors Against Illegal Guns- and not in a good way:

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http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/ceasefire-violence-interrupter-is-gang-member-faces-federal-charge/amp/

CeaseFire ‘violence interrupter’ among dozens charged after gang probe

Federal prosecutors announced Friday that Francisco “Smokey” Sanchez has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a felon. Sanchez is a “violence interrupter” for CeaseFire and is part of the Gangster Two-Six Nation street gang, according to law-enforcement sources...

...The Cure Violence organization, which is based at the University of Illinois at Chicago and oversees CeaseFire, defended the program while seeming to acknowledge the charge against Sanchez as a “relapse.”

“Although relapses may occur, we need to see the bigger picture of the amazing work and great successes and contributions of interrupters in Chicago and around the country,” Cure Violence said in a statement.

The complaint against Sanchez describes how police and federal agents obtained a search warrant Wednesday and went to Sanchez’s Brighton Park home at 6 a.m. Thursday. While searching his bedroom, they found a Colt .45-caliber handgun inside a metal container designed to look like a book. The lid of the container was not fully closed, the complaint noted, and the butt of the pistol could be seen through the opening.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/gang-leaders-out-of-supermax-say-they-want-to-help-but-cops-worry/

Gang leaders out of Supermax say they want to help, but cops worry
Frank Main @FrankMainNews | email


Willie “Minister Rico” Johnson, Francisco “Smokey” Sanchez and Melvin “Head” Haywood all did time in Tamms Correctional Center, a Supermax prison where gang leaders were held to keep them from communicating with their underlings.

Now, they’re back on the street after completing prison terms for murder. And they’re communicating with gang members again — but this time as “interrupters” for the anti-violence group CeaseFire. The job pays about $33,000 a year, records show.

CeaseFire has been celebrated for its success in stopping street violence in a widely seen documentary, “The Interrupters,” but many cops still view it with skepticism since some of the group’s employees have been charged with serious crimes while working there.

Gary Slutkin, the founder of CeaseFire, said job screeners for the program make sure employees like Johnson, Sanchez and Haywood are no longer active in gangs. Still, the screeners are looking for employees who can speak to gang members in the language of the streets and can gain their trust, Slutkin said.


https://www.thetrace.org/2017/02/chicago-homicides-cure-violence-interrupters/

On Patrol With Chicago’s Last Violence Interrupters

by Ann Givens
@annthetrace

Chicago outreach worker Francisco Sanchez had been home from work only a few minutes when his cell phone rang again. It was a little after 3 a.m.

You need to head back out, the caller said. Three people just got shot on your block.

Sanchez walked toward the red and blue flashing police lights, looking for familiar faces in the crowd. As a violence interrupter in Chicago, his job is to use his ties in southwest Chicago — and his credibility as a onetime gang leader — to stop shootings before they multiply. In a case like the one he was fielding now, that meant finding out who the victims were, and making sure their friends didn’t hatch a plan to retaliate.

http://www.tiohardiman.com/bio

Tio Hardiman, Executive Director for Violence Interrupters, NFP, has dedicated his life and career to community organizing for peace and social change. In 1999, Mr. Hardiman joined CeaseFire, an award-winning public health model that has been scientifically proven to reduce shootings and killings. In 2004, Tio created the Violence Interrupters Initiative.

In 2004, under Tio’s direction, CeaseFire received additional funding from the State of Illinois to immediately expand from 5 to 15 communities and from 20 to 130 Outreach Workers and Violence Interrupters.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-ceasefire-illinois-director-ousted-after-domestic-battery-arrest-20130603-story.html#nt=featured-content

CeaseFire Illinois director ousted after domestic battery arrest
Carlos Sadovi and Jeremy Gorner

The longtime head of an anti-violence group that works to stem gang shootings in Chicago was dismissed Monday, just days after his arrest on a charge that he beat up his wife.

The University of Illinois at Chicago, which operates CeaseFire Illinois, said the contract of Tio Hardiman as director would not be renewed at the end of the month.

Reached by telephone, Hardiman said he felt betrayed by CeaseFire and its founder Dr. Gary Slutkin, who initially expressed support for him after the arrest on Friday.

“I feel shipwrecked and abandoned,” Hardiman said Monday night. “I feel Dr. Gary Slutkin in particular is dead wrong with all of the heavy lifting I’ve done with CeaseFire during my entire career.”

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-06-05/news/ct-met-tio-hardiman-court-hearing-20130605_1_alison-hardiman-ferdinand-serpe-tio-hardiman

Order of protection issued against anti-violence activist
June 05, 2013|By Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune reporter

A Cook County judge issued an order of protection Tuesday barring fired CeaseFire director Tio Hardiman from any contact with his wife as more details emerged about his arrest nearly 14 years ago for beating another woman.

Court records obtained by the Tribune show that Hardiman's then-wife obtained an order of protection against him in 1999 after she alleged that he had knocked her to the floor and repeatedly beat her on the face, head and body.

In the latest incident, Hardiman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery on allegations he punched and kicked his current wife, Alison, on Friday at their west suburban Hillside home. Prosecutors said she suffered bruises, a cut to her neck and a swollen lip.

Hardiman, who was dismissed Monday from his post heading the anti-violence group, has denied guilt.