The Justice Department says a Chicago gang leader was radicalized by ISIS

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Chicago (CNN) - He is the alleged leader of “AHK Street Gang,” a gang in the Chicago area that deals with various narcotics throughout the city region, including heroin and cocaine, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ , for its acronym in English).

But on Thursday, Jason Brown entered federal court not for drug charges, but for allegedly trying to provide material support to ISIS.

Specifically, the Department of Justice alleges that on three separate occasions this year, “Brown provided $ 500 to a confidential source with the intention that the $ 500 be transferred to an individual that Brown believed was an ISIS soldier involved in combat active in Syria. " That individual was working confidentially with the police, says the Department of Justice.

The most important question now is: how could an alleged leader of a Chicago area gang get involved in ISIS?

“One of the notable areas where the Islamic State has been able to recruit”

While Brown was serving a sentence for a previous arrest in 2016, according to the criminal complaint, he was "radicalized in prison." An expert says that Western prisons have become a key recruitment field for ISIS in the last decade.

"ISIS has manipulated its ideology to attract people with criminal backgrounds," said Bennett Clifford, a researcher at the George Washington University Extremism Program. "This is one of the notable areas where the Islamic State has been able to recruit."

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One of the aspects that Clifford says that ISIS has tried to perfect is the idea that bad actions in the past do not matter. Often, they are even seen as positive. Clifford specifically pointed to a propaganda poster cited in a report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence in London. The poster says: "Sometimes people with the worst past create the best futures."

Once Brown, also known as “Abdul Ja'Me,” was out of prison, directing the AHK gang, the Justice Department alleges, he is believed to have used “his position as leader of the AHK street gang to actively recruit and radicalize members of AHK and others to support ISIS. "

Brown did not testify in court on Thursday. His lawyer, Nicholas Grapsas, declined to comment to CNN.

Two cases related to ISIS with days of difference in Chicago

Three days after the Department of Justice announced Brown's arrest, federal authorities arrested Thomas Osadzinski, a 20-year-old student from DePaul University, for the same charge, in an attempt to provide material support to ISIS

The criminal complaint in the case of Osadzinski alleges that he designed a process to make ISIS propaganda more accessible and disseminated by users on a social media platform.

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If both Brown and Osadzinski are found guilty, the material support charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Clifford has called for the implementation of “effective and data-based” terrorism prevention programs in the US federal correctional system, says inmates may be especially vulnerable to radicalization.

"Who they interact with makes a big difference," said Clifford.

A judge ruled Thursday that Brown would remain in the custody of the US Marshals Service. UU. pending any other legal proceedings. Osadzinski has an appearance in court on Friday. CNN contacted his lawyer for comment.

ISIS