Armando Jose Velasquez, Attempted Murder, Indiana 2024

East Chicago, Indiana – A ruthless gang member has been sentenced to serve 25 years in prison for attempting to murder a rival, a 18-year-old East Chicago resident, in a brutal act of violence that shook the community.

Armando Jose Velasquez, aka “Money,” 27, was sentenced to 305 months in prison for his role in the Dec. 3, 2011, attempted murder. Velasquez, who was previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2005, was on state parole at the time of the offense.

According to court documents, Velasquez fired a gun into the victim’s car, striking the victim three times. The victim, who was not a gang member, was not involved in any criminal activity. Velasquez believed the victim was a rival gang member, but his assumptions turned out to be fatally flawed.

Velasquez was part of a 24-defendant indictment alleging that members of the Imperial Gangsters committed 14 previously-uncharged homicides, 12 in East Chicago, one in Hammond, and one in Gary. The indictment also charged a decade-long racketeering conspiracy that involved the attempted murder of 19 other victims and the large-scale distribution of cocaine and marijuana.

Velasquez pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2014, to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, and a firearm offense relating to the Dec. 3, 2011, attempted murder. Velasquez is one of 22 defendants charged in the indictment to plead guilty.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the FBI, and the East Chicago Police Department, with assistance from the Gary Police Department, the Hammond Police Department, and the Lake County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell and U.S. Attorney David A. Capp made the announcement, praising the work of the investigators and prosecutors who brought Velasquez to justice. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Bruce R. Hegyi of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Nozick of the Northern District of Indiana.

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