(AllHipHop News) A man in Chicago who was exonerated of murder after being convicted as a young teen is back in the headlines.
Thaddeus Jimenez, who is a member of the Simon City Royals, was just 14-years-old when he was convicted of shooting and killing a 19-year-old in Chicago, back in 1993.
First, the teenager was locked up first in a juvenile detention center and then sent to an adult prison, where he served almost 16 years in prison.
However, Jimenez was freed in 2013 and eventually won a $25 million judgment against the city, after flaws in his original trial were uncovered and new witnesses came forth, to identify a different triggerman.
Regrettably, Jimenez has used most of his money to rebuild his Simon City Royals gang.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Jimenez would pay gang members $50,000 in recruitment bonuses, in addition to doling out cash to gang members who wore the gang’s logo tattooed on their faces.
In addition to buying his gang members luxury vehicles like Range Rovers and Porsches, Jimenez wasted a good portion of his money bonding other gangsters out of jail for various crimes.
When the gang was on the hunt for rivals, they reportedly refused to listen to rap music.
Jimenez is currently on trial for his role in a gang-related shooting in August of 2015.
Jimenez and a Simon City Royals gang member named Jose Roman were cruising the streets, looking for a mark, when they ran into an old associate named Earl Casteel.
During a video Roman taped of the shooting, he “explained how opera was their music of choice when looking for targets to shoot, unlike other ‘wannabe rappin’-ass n—as.,’” according to the Chicago-Sun Times.
When Casteel went to the side of Jimenez’ droptop Mercedes-Benz, Roman shot him in the legs, without provocation.
Casteel eventually won a $6 million verdict, while both Jose Roman and Thaddeus Jimenez facing is facing up to 10 years in prison for his role in the crime.
Additionally, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that he has blown his entire $25 million settlement, but he’s allegedly still running the Simon City Royals gang from jail.