From the U.S. Attorney:
FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS TWO DEFENDANTS OF CONSPIRING TO RETALIATE AGAINST INDIVIDUALS WHO COOPERATED WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT IN CHICAGO GANG INVESTIGATION
CHICAGO — A federal jury has convicted two defendants of conspiring to retaliate against individuals who provided information to law enforcement during an investigation of a violent Chicago street gang.
MARKEEVES BROOKS knowingly conspired to retaliate against an individual and DONNITA BRYANT knowingly conspired to retaliate against two individuals who cooperated with law enforcement in a federal investigation of the Faceworld street gang.
Bryant’s son, DIONTAE HARPER, was a member of Faceworld and a subject of the investigation and prosecution.
The two cooperating individuals provided information against Harper in a murder case in which he was charged and were providing additional information in a related investigation into the Faceworld gang.
From January to September 2025, Brooks and Bryant publicly disseminated a video of a law enforcement interview with one of the cooperators and discussed publicizing a sworn grand jury statement by the other cooperator.
Harper had received the video and the grand jury statement during the discovery and sentencing phases of his murder case.
The discovery materials were subject to a protective order and were legally prohibited from being shared with others.
After an eight-day trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the jury on Wednesday convicted Brooks, 28, of Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, and Bryant, 47, of Chicago, of conspiracy to commit witness retaliation.
Brooks was also convicted of a substantive offense of witness retaliation.
The jury acquitted Bryant of the same substantive offense, and also acquitted a third defendant, MICHAELA RICHARD, 26, of Chicago, of the sole conspiracy count against her.
U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin has not yet set sentencing dates for Brooks and Bryant.
Harper, 26, of Chicago, pleaded guilty prior to trial to a witness retaliation charge. Harper’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
The verdicts were announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Ryan Whalen, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Fred Waller, Interim Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julia K. Schwartz, Sushma Raju, John “L.J.” Pavletic, and Jessica Ecker.
In May 2025, Harper was convicted in the murder case and subsequently sentenced to 34 years in federal prison. The murder occurred in 2020 in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Harper admitted in a plea agreement that he fatally shot a man so that Harper could maintain and increase his position in Faceworld, whose members engaged in violent crimes and trafficked narcotics.
