A former top prosecutor in an expansive federal street-gang prosecution could wind up on the witness stand in the coming weeks, just as his former colleagues are preparing to take the case he once led to trial all over again.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin agreed to the hearing Wednesday, calling it an “extraordinary granting” of an “extraordinary request.”

It’s also the latest twist in the case of accused Wicked Town street gang leader Donald Lee and alleged gang shooter Torance Benson. The men were convicted after a lengthy trial in 2022, but Durkin ordered a new trial earlier this year. Jury selection is set for Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Lee led a gang that “wreaked havoc” on Chicago’s West Side, flooding the streets with drugs and terrorizing citizens through “heinous acts of viol

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