Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times in what was reportedly an assassination attempt aimed at building goodwill with Black Lives Matter.
The New York Post reported on Friday that the suspect, John Turscak, is a former member of the Mexican Mafia and once worked as an FBI informant.
Turscak, 52, allegedly told investigators that he chose Black Friday for the murder attempt at the federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, because it was “symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the ‘Black Hand’ symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization,” according to the Post.
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Turscak also reportedly said that he had been thinking about killing Chauvin for months.
The suspect was already serving a 30-year sentence for crimes he committed while working as an FBI informant, the Post noted.
As an informant, Turscak dealt drugs, extorted money, and authorized assaults on rivals. His snitching reportedly led to the arrests of 40 Mexican Mafia members or their associates.
The FBI stopped using him as an informant and charged him with racketeering and conspiring to kill a rival gang member. He was convicted in 1997.
For the near-fatal attack on Chauvin, he now faces charges of attempted murder, assault with the intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in bodily injury.
He was relocated to another federal facility in Tucson.
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