Following a recent tour of Chicago, FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed alarming statistics: more than 110,000 gang members are believed to be operating on the city’s streets. This revelation underscores the ongoing crisis of corruption, lawlessness, and political timidity that has long characterized the Windy City.
To put this in perspective, approximately 4% of Chicago’s 2.7 million residents are suspected gang members — translating to roughly one gang member for every 24 individuals living in the city.
“We discovered that the streets of Chicago are rife with gang activity — 110,000 members, to be precise. You heard correctly: the city has recorded 1,200 shootings and 360 homicides this year alone,” Patel reported during an interview with Sean Hannity.
Patel’s comments draw a grim portrait of a city seemingly spiraling into chaos beneath the weight of policies that appear more concerned with appearances than public safety. Despite decades characterized by Democratic governance, Chicago endures as one of the most perilous cities in the United States.
In his statements, Patel praised former President Donald Trump for enabling federal law enforcement to take decisive action in places where local leadership has faltered:
“When politicians focus on metrics rather than the safety of their citizens, we are thankful for President Trump, the Department of Justice, and the FBI stepping in to combat violent crime effectively.”
According to Patel, during Trump’s presidency, the FBI and DOJ discreetly dispatched agents to cities like Chicago and Memphis, facilitating coordination with National Guard units to prepare for significant federal interventions against violent individuals.
“President Trump empowered us to operate quietly in these cities, establishing groundwork similar to that seen in Washington D.C. and Memphis,” he elaborated.
WATCH:
JUST IN: FBI Director Kash Patel reports there are 110,000 GANG MEMBERS active on Chicago’s streets.
“We discovered that the streets of Chicago are home to 110,000 gang members. Yes, you heard that right. This year alone, the city has seen 1,200 shootings and 360 homicides.”
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 8, 2025
It’s worth recalling that back in 2020, Chicago’s then-police superintendent, David Brown, estimated the number of gang members at around 117,000, belonging to 55 known gangs which were, in turn, subdivided into 747 factions and 2,500 subsets, as reported by NBC News.
The Chicago Police Department once maintained a gang database that included over 134,000 individuals, only to dismantle it in 2023 due to concerns over its accuracy, potential for racial profiling, and outdated categorizations, according to reports from WTTW.
The news outlet commented:
Nearly four and a half years post the city’s watchdog critique revealing pervasive inaccuracies in the police department’s gang databases — which disproportionately targeted Black and Latino residents — an interim commission overseeing the Chicago Police Department voted unanimously to terminate plans for a new system.
This decision solidifies a campaign promise by Mayor Brandon Johnson to dismantle a system deemed “racist” and largely unhelpful in ensuring community safety, ultimately impeding residents’ access to employment and housing.
Commission President Anthony Driver remarked, “It is about time we end it once and for all,” emphasizing that the database had never demonstrated any tangible benefit to the safety of Chicago.
Former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s audit from April 2019 revealed that 134,242 people were categorized as gang members, with approximately 95% of these individuals being Black or Latino.
