Federal authorities’ attempt to dismantle the leadership of the Latin Kings street gang has gained  new momentum, with charges being announced today in Chicago involving the organization and its reputed corona, or national leader. The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference, promising to announce a case targeting street gang activity in the Little Village neighborhood. That case allegedly involves Augustin Zambrano, the Latin King’s reputed boss, the Tribune has reported. Prosecutors as well as leaders of the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are expected to make the announcement. Zambrano, known as “Big Tino” and “the Old Man,” was charged in a complaint made public Wednesday in a conspiracy to distribute a substance containing hydrocodone, identified in court documents as Vicodin. He is identified in an FBI affidavit in the case as the gang’s “overall leader.” Two others who hold the corona title for the gang already are in federal prison. The charges against Zambrano come following a long federal crackdown against the gang known as “Operation Broken Crown,” led by the ATF. That investigation used high-level informants and saw its “Supreme Inca,” or number two leader, Fernando “Ace” King convicted last year. Testifying against King was Jesse Guajarado, a chapter leader from the suburbs who secretly recorded gang leadership meetings. Chicago remains the gang’s national power center, authorities have said, and Guajardo recorded King disciplining gang members at a meeting near Midway Airport. “We don’t go for it in New York City, in New Jersey, Connecticut – we don’t go for it,” King said. As in that case, Zambrano apparently was taken down by a cooperating witness from within the organization. The witness has been a Latin King since 1993 and held his own national position, according to the affidavit in the Zambrano case. In November 2007, Zambrano allegedly gave the witness 100 Vicodin pills to sell, and federal agents helped the witness make a secret recording when Zambrano was given his share of cash for the purported sale. The witness went on to record another unidentified individual involved in trafficking, the complaint states, and the pair discussed moving drugs for Zambrano, who is now in federal custody. — Jeff Coen

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Feds to bring charges against Latin Kings’ leadership