Gang Leader Stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 Times on ‘Black Friday,’ Complaint Says
John Turscak is a former Mexican Mafia gang leader and FBI informant who is accused of stabbing former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin 22 times in a Tucson, Arizona, prison law library. Chauvin is incarcerated in the death of George Floyd. On December 1, 2023, the United States Attorney’s Office “filed a criminal complaint charging attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury against John Turscak, 52,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release.
“The complaint alleges that while incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Tucson, Turscak stabbed another inmate, D.C., who had previously been convicted of federal crimes in another district, approximately 22 times with an improvised knife.”
“Attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder violations each carry maximum penalties of 20 years’ incarceration, while assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years’ incarceration,” the release says.
Minnesota’s attorney general confirmed to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the inmate was Chauvin and said he was in a hospital in stable condition.
According to the federal indictment, Turscak is accused of stabbing Chavin (named as DC in the indictment) with an improvised knife approximately 22 times, causing serious bodily injury.
Chauvin was “in the facility’s law library” when attacked, the court documents say.
“A federal corrections officers immediately responded to the assault and deployed OC spray to subdue Turscak,” the documents say.
Turscak told corrections officers “that he would have killed DC had they not responded so quickly,” the indictment says.
He denied wanting to kill DC but stated “he had been thinking about assaulting DC for approximately one month because DC is a high profile inmate,” the indictment says, adding, “He saw an opportunity to assault DC in the law library on Friday, November 24, 2023, the day after Thanksgiving commonly known as Black Friday.”
Turscak stated that his attack of Chauvin on Black Friday “was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the ‘Black Hand’ symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organizations,” the complaint says. The attack happened at 12:30 p.m. on November 24, 2023, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, the documents say.