A 25-year-old member of a Chicago street gang has been handed a 34-year federal prison sentence for the murder of a man in 2020. The sentence follows Diontae Harper's admittance to killing Paul Harris in order to bolster his standing within the Faceworld gang, a criminal group entrenched in Chicago's South Side involved in violent crimes and narcotics trafficking.
During a hearing on May 8, 2025, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah ruled on the matter in federal court in Chicago. Details on the proceedings, made available by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, indicate Harper's explicit acknowledgment in his plea that the murder was committed at a gas station in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Harper and an accomplice shot Harris multiple times as the victim sat in his car.
This act of violence was not Harper's only brush with obstructing the law. While in custody earlier this year, he was recorded making threatening statements toward a witness. His guilty plea in January to a federal charge of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence effectively sealed his fate in the justice system.
The announcement of Harper’s sentencing was made by a trio of law enforcement officials: Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office; and Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julia Schwartz, Sushma Raju, and Matthew Moyer are credited with representing the federal government in this case. Meanwhile, two other individuals implicated as the other shooter and the getaway driver have pleaded guilty to murder in aid of racketeering and await their own sentencing.
