Jason Austin, West Side gang leader, sentenced for murder of detective, heroin operation

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Jason Austin, a high-ranking leader of the Traveling Vice Lords gang on the city's West Side, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in connection with federal narcotics charges and the "very likely" 2008 murder of a Chicago police detective, officials said.

Austin, 32, was previously convicted of controlling a heroin distribution ring at Kedzie Avenue and Ohio Street between 2008-2009 as well as street sales of the drug during that time, according to the affidavit.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow also ruled Thursday that Austin "very likely" murdered Chicago Detective Robert Soto and Kathryn Romberg in 2008, officials said, and attempted to obstruct the case's investigation. Lefkow ruled that the government met its burden of proof in the case, presenting evidence that Austin shot the pair after mistaking Soto for a rival drug dealer, according to the affidavit.

Austin was convicted on federal narcotics charges in 2012 and was among 30 other people arrested in 2010 in connection with a crack cocaine and heroin operation in the area. Police surveillance as well as undercover officers documented hand-to-hand drug transactions of the heroin, named "Blue Magic," that brought in as much as $8,000 per day in sales, officials said.

Austin has seven other prior felony convictions, according to the affidavit.