(Above) Alley in 400 block of North State Street, connecting State and Dearborn Streets. (Google Street View.)
7-Apr-18 – A Woodlawn man charged Friday with stabbing a man to death in River North last month has a lengthy criminal history that includes robbery and threatening people on the street with knives, according to court records.
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Early on March 23, 58-year-old Gino Bassett (left) saw software executive Miguel Beedle standing outside of a River North bar holding cash, prosecutors said. Surveillance video showed Bassett looking at Beedle from across the street. Later, according to prosecutors, Bassett is seen following Beedle into a nearby alley and pushing him forward. |
That’s when Bassett allegedly stabbed Beedle in the neck before fleeing to the nearby CTA Red Line station at State & Grand. Video shows 55-year-old Beedle walking out of the alley, holding his neck, and collapsing at the corner of State & Hubbard. He died minutes later.
At the CTA station, Bassett threatened two women with a knife and then boarded a train where cameras captured images of him counting money, sorting credit cards, and holding the knife, prosecutors said.
After the murder, Bassett fled to New York, according to prosecutors. He was arrested at Union Station when he returned this week.
At Bassett’s home, police allegedly recovered a bloody knife with a five-inch blade and a coat matching one that Bassett is seen wearing in CTA video.
Bassett is charged with one count of felony murder and two misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Additional charges, including robbery, are expected to be submitted to a grand jury. Judge Michael Clancy ordered Bassett held without bail.
His defense attorney yesterday said that Bassett suffers from mental disorders, including schizophrenia.
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Neighborhood menace
Rico Diaz, Tom Thomas, Terry Hart, Jimmy Brooks, and Reggie Anderson are just some of the nearly 20 aliases Bassett has assumed in 89 criminal cases since 1984. Six of the cases resulted in prison time...
• One year for narcotics in 1996.
• Five years for burglary in 1998.
• One year for retail theft in 2001.
• Three years for burglary in 2003.
• Nine years for armed robbery at knifepoint of a Near North gas station in 2007.
• Three years for battering a cop outside the State & Grand Red Line station in 2014.
Bassett has continued to collect arrests since his most recent prison stint. In January 2015, he was charged with threatening a man with a box cutter as the victim stood outside of a bar in the 400 block of North Clark Street. Bassett was on parole at the time. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
In September 2015, Bassett was convicted of criminal trespass to a vehicle and theft of lost or mislaid property after police found him inside a stolen car near Clark & Division. He was carrying an iPad that did not belong to him or to the car’s owner. He was sentenced that time to two days of time served.
Other cases followed. Most recently, Bassett was arrested in Lake View in January after he stole four bottles of Jack Daniels and battered a store worker at a Walgreens on North Clark Street. He was again sentenced to two days of time served.
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