From the Chicago Dispatcher
April 2009
From the Editor's Desk
Past Homicide Updates
A look at the punishments given to those who have murdered Chicago-area cabdrivers.
By: Jonathan Bullington
After attending the sentencing hearing of Gary Allard, the man who murdered cabdriver Mohammad Rafiq Haroon, I was told by Mr. Haroon's brother Salim that, in his 32 years driving a taxi, 47 years in prison was the most severe punishment he could remember being given to the murderer of a Chicago cabdriver. So after returning to the office, I decided to check up on that information to see exactly what punishments had been given to those who have murdered cabdrivers in the Chicago area. Here's what I found:
October 5, 2006 - Sonnie Wellington
In the early morning hours of Thursday, October 5, police officers responding to a call of a traffic accident found a cab crashed into a light pole. Upon further investigation by paramedics, the driver of that cab, 63-year-old Sonnie Wellington, was found with a bullet wound to the torso. He was taken to Trinity Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Wellington was a long-time cabdriver with King Drive Cab Association. According to King Drive president Crystal Abernathy, she had heard that three men came into the company's office on October 5 wanting to take a cab, but dispatchers there got “bad vibes from them” and told the men no cabs were available. As they left, Abernathy said she heard Wellington was pulling up to the office and took the three men in his cab before dispatchers could say anything. That was the last they saw of Wellington, according to Abernathy.
Chicago police have had leads in this case but as of press time, no one has been charged with the murder of Sonnie Wellington and police are still investigating.
February 4, 2005 - Haroon Paryani
What started as a verbal dispute between a cabdriver and his passenger turned into murder. Just after midnight on February 4, 61-year-old cabdriver Haroon Paryani argued with his passenger, Michael L. Jackson, over an eight-dollar fare on the 500 block of West Briar Place. As the argument progressed, Jackson knocked Paryani to the ground, entered Paryani's taxi and proceeded to run the cabdriver over three times with his own cab. Paryani was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
In the weeks and months leading up to Jackson's trial, his defense team attempted to paint Paryani as the aggressor and Jackson as a man afraid for his life. Though multiple witnesses testified to seeing Jackson behind the wheel of Paryani's cab, Jackson's defense team made the argument that Paryani initiated the altercation that led to his death and that Jackson only hit Paryani because he could not control the car while trying to flee for safety. After three days of deliberation, a jury found Jackson not guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking, but guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His projected parole date is 1/18/2012.
November 6, 2004 - Karim Ally
On the evening of Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004, 57-year-old Karim Ally was shot and killed on the 6300 block of South Calumet Ave. At the time of his murder, Ally operated a private, unlicensed taxi, commonly referred to as a “gypsy” or “bandit” cab.
After his murder, police arrested 21-year-old Pierre White with Ally's murder. Prosecutors alleged White and another man had first taken another taxi with the intention of committing robbery, but when that driver grew suspicious, he ordered the two to exit his taxi. After doing so, White and another man found Ally, whom they asked to take them to Calumet Avenue, where Ally was found murdered.
White was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison. His projected parole date is 10/23/2034.
July 16, 2004 - Jamial I. Osborn
The suburb of Aurora was the scene where, on July 16, 2003, police were dispatched to the 900 block of Indian Trail Road after an employee of Deluxe Cab and Livery Service discovered Jamial I. Osborn unconscious, not breathing and suffering from several gunshot wounds. Osborn was discovered after he failed to clear and dropped out of radio contact after apparently picking up a fare from an address on Aurora's near east side at approximately 12:30 a.m.
Osborn's taxi was discovered in the front yard of a home, about 25 feet from the street. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:03 a.m.
Aurora Police arrested 18-year-old Charles Marquis Hill of Oswego and charged him with Osborn's murder. Police said Hill was with three other people when he called Deluxe Cab and Livery Service. Once they reached their destination in the 600 block of Old Indian Trail, Hill robbed Osborn before shooting him several times. Hill was convicted of murder and sentenced to 48 years in prison. His projected parole date is 1/23/2054.
July 5, 2003 - Ruby Lasecki
In another July 2003 murder, 52-year-old cabdriver Ruby Lasecki was found shot to death in the 2500 block of West Warren. Chicago police said witnesses observed two men entering Lasecki's cab shortly before she was shot in the left shoulder at 7:50 p.m. After the passengers got out, they opened her door and shot her, police said. Lasecki, an unlicensed cabdriver, was pronounced dead an hour later.
Police charged brothers Donald, 17, and Karl, 20, Haywood with Lasecki's murder. Both men were apprehended as suspects in an unrelated shooting, but later charged with Lasecki's murder after police found they fit the description of the suspects in Lasecki's murder. Both Donald and Karl were convicted of murder and sentenced to 55 years and 50 years in prison, respectively. Donald's projected parole date is 6/22/2058; Karl's is 6/15/2053.
August 18, 2001 - Zaheeruddin Quraishi
In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 18, 2001, 33-year-old cabdriver Zaheeruddin Quraishi was walking to his taxi on the 6300 block of N. Rockwell when he was fatally shot four times. Though Mr. Quraishi lived on Rockwell, his cab was parked nearly a mile away because of a city ordinance dictating that taxis can't be parked on residential streets. Because he was walking to his cab and not technically working at the time of the shooting, his family was not eligible to receive worker's compensation and, due to financial constraints, was forced to return to India.
Police arrested 18-year-old Jason Clay and his cousin, 19-year-old Kelton Sapp, in connection with Mr. Quraishi's murder. Sapp was found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to 13 years in prison; he has been released on parole. Clay, who plead guilty to Mr. Quraishi's murder, was sentenced to 23 years in prison. His projected parole date is 8/6/2024.
December 9, 2000 - Luis Gonzalez
Shortly after 10:00 p.m., December 9, 2000, police found an American United taxi smashed into a CTA pillar on the corner of Lake Street and Damen Avenue. Lying outside the taxi was cabdriver Luis Gonzalez. He had been shot in the chest and shoulder. Charged with his murder was 22-year-old Leon Clair. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His projected parole date is 4/8/2025.
The last case mentioned (from 2000) was solved by fingerprints on the shield. I had the detective in my cab a few years ago that had solved this case. As I remember, it took time to identify the murderer. This is an example of good police work. The detective worked hard on this. Something Chicago Police are not known for.
Almost all of the other murders mentioned were against drivers not protected by partitions. Some were not licensed as taxis or were surburban taxis. In the years prior to partitions being mandatory there was a much higher murder rate of Chicago medallion drivers.
The method used to murder two of the Chicago medallion drivers was to grab the driver before/just as he started working. This should be a lesson to all of us as we are often too eager to grab our first fare.
The sentence given to Michael Jackson is a joke. A very bad injustice. I wonder what would have happened to Paryani if he had run over Jackson? Probably would have gotten life. If there is any silver lining here it is this: Jackson was reported to have aids by the newspapers and already has his life sentence from the man upstairs. I hope he suffers badly for a long time.
He doesn't have aids. That is a lie to get him out of jail or death penalty.
How do you know?
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Replying to:
He doesn't have aids. That is a lie to get him out of jail or death penalty.
