TUCSON, Ariz. – A prison inmate, already serving a 30-year sentence, was charged with stabbing former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, also an inmate, at the U.S. Penitentiary in Tucson 1-1/2 weeks ago. Chauvin survived but only because three guards pulled his assailant off him before he bled out. Chauvin took 22 stabs. He was rushed to a hospital. At last report he was in stable condition. The attack was about 12:30 p.m. in the prison library. Charged for the attack was John Turscak, who, according to court documents, said he would have killed Chauvin had guards not intervened quickly and begun life-saving measures. Turscak, 52, was charged with:
> Assault with intent to commit murder.
> Assault with a dangerous weapon.
> Assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
The charges can be punished by 20 years in prison. Turscak had been scheduled for release from his current 30-year sentence in 2026. Meanwhile, he was moved from the main Tucson federal prison to an adjacent penitentiary facility.
Turscak. Admits his goal, according to prosecutors, was to kill Chauvin. The weapon: A hand-made stiletto.
Black Friday symbolism
According to the criminal complaint, Turscak admitted to plotting the attack on Chauvin for about a month and chose Black Friday, the day Thanksgiving. Turscak pointed out he saw a symbolic connection between Black Friday and the Black Lives Matter movement, which grew rapidly after Chauvin, who is white, choked George Floyd, black man, to death in Minneapolis in 2020. Turscak noted too that the Mexican Mafia uses a black hand as a symbol. Turscak, who is white, was is prison for crimes associated with the Mexican Mafia, an umbrella organization for Hispanic gangs in southern California.
Turscak profile
Turscak led a faction of the Mexican Mafia in Los Angeles in the late 1990s, He went by the nickname “Stranger.” He became an FBI informant in 1997, providing information about the gang and recordings conversations with other Mexican Mafia people. The investigation led to 40 indictments, but the FBI and Turscak had a falling out when ui was learned that he was still dealing drugs, extorting money and authorizing assaults. According to court documents. Turscak plotted attacks on rival gang members and was accused of attempting to kill a leader of a rival Mexican Mafia faction while also being targeted himself. In 2001 Turscak pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiring to kill a gang rival. He was bitter at being prosecuted, saying he expected leniency for cooperating with the FBI. Said Turscak at the time: “I didn’t commit those crimes for kicks. I did them because I had to if I wanted to stay alive. I told that to the FBI agents and they just said, ‘Do what you have to do.”‘