Gang member 'beats rival to death with a half hour after they were placed in the same jail cell'
Christian Gonzalez (pictured) was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his cellmate on February 1
A Chicago gang member allegedly beat a rival gang member to death with sock full of soap bars just a half hour after they were placed in the same jail cell.
Security footage from the Cook County Jail is said to partially show Christian Gonzalez, 24, attacking 19-year-old Pedro Ruiz with a 'soap sock' for 10 minutes in the early hours of February 1.
Gonzalez can also be seen grabbing Ruiz by his hair and roughly dragging him, the Chicago Sun Times reports.
When correctional officers finally responded to the scene, prosecutors say Ruiz suffered from internal bleeding, a 'major neck injury' and resembled someone who had been in a car crash.
Ruiz was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, while Gonzalez is facing first-degree murder charges in the death.
Gonzalez, a member of the Satan Disciples street gang, would allegedly later confess to correctional officers that he deliberately killed Ruiz because he was part of the Almighty Saints street gang.
However, Gonzalez would later say that Ruiz was experiencing breathing problems and the guards took too long to respond.
Pedro Ruiz (pictured) was killed inside his two-man cell at the Cook County Jail on Saturday because he was from the Almighty Saints, or Latin Saints, street gang
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ShareSatan Disciples and Almighty Saints Feud
The Satan Disciples were founded in 1959 by 'King Satan' in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, at the street corner of 15th and Talman.
Although much of the neighborhood was predominately African American by that time, Satan Disciples were mainly run by Czechoslovakian and Polish white males. Young Mexican men were also brought into the ranks.
As demographics in the neighborhood shifted, the Satan Disciples became a predominately Latino group.
The street gang soon expanded into other parts of Chicago and engaged in fights with the Gaylords, Ambrose and the Latin Counts gangs.
As Satan Disciple's continued to broaden their reach, they made new enemies with other gangs, including the Almighty Saints.
The Almighty Saints, or Latin Saints, were founded in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in 1960 by a man named 'Rabbi' at the corner of 45th and De La Wood.
Similar to Satan Disciple, the Saints were mostly made of Polish youth.
Trouble between the Saints and Satan Disciples began after the two groups occupied the same areas in the 1980s.
Source: Chicago Gang History
<!- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->AdvertisementInvestigators recovered a ripped, bloody sock from the cell, as well as what is believed to be a bloody undershirt and boxers that Gonzalez was wearing under a clean jail uniform.
Judge Arthur Wesley Willis ordered Gonzalez to be held without bond during a Thursday hearing because he is a 'danger to everybody.'
While prosecutors have created a timeline of events in Ruiz's death, there are still no answers as to why rival gang members were placed together, why it took supervisors more than 20 minutes to respond to the scene and why standard safety regulation failed to protect Ruiz.
On January 31, Ruiz was placed to Tier 2C of Division 9 shortly after he was brought in on attempted murder charges and wasn't in contact with Gonzalez until around 12.30am.
At 1.05am, surveillance footage shows an inmate lifting their arm up and down repeatedly as if attacking someone after a cell light turned out.
Then, a figure can be seen dragging a person by their hair. At one point, Gonzalez allegedly slowed his movement as if growing tired.
A guard performing a security check happened upon the feuding pair around 1.30am and Gonzalez claimed something was wrong with Ruiz.
This prompted the guard to radio his sergeant and say the two men were 'acting strange.'
Officials have not disclosed by Gonzalez and Ruiz, two gang members from rival gangs, were placed inside the jail cell at Cook County jail (pictured) together on February 1
Supervisors would not arrive to the cell until nearly 30 minutes later.
In a statement from the Sheriff's Office, authorities said: '[We] launched a thorough internal investigation of all the factors involved in this case. We take all acts of violence in the jail extremely seriously and work tirelessly to prevent those intent on committing harm from being able to do so.'
This is not the only investigation being done on Gonzalez, who was allegedly involved in the death a 41-year-old inmate on November 19.
Gonzalez and four other men viciously attacked a 41-year-old in the the day room of Division 9
Reports say Gonzalez was among five inmates who attacked another man in the day room of Division 9, a maximum-security wing in the correctional facility.
Footage shows Gonzalez kicking and punching the man several times before other inmates stabbed him with a shank.
After the victim is left listless on the day room floor, surrounded by blood, Gonzalez placed a joker playing card on the victim's body.
Correctional officers didn't arrive to the scene until seven minutes later. Each man was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and mob action.
Before that, Gonzales was in jail on charges relating to allegedly shooting a leader of the Almighty Saints gang and injuring three-year-old boy.
He's been in the Cook County jail since June 2019.
The Cook County jail has been called one of the most dangerous facilities in the country, citing poor leadership staff.
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