A long-time River North troublemaker has been sentenced to 22 years for murdering a software executive near the Hubbard Street nightlife district three years ago.
Miguel “Mike” Beedle of Park Ridge was a father of six and the CEO of software company Enterprise Scrum when Gino Bassett Sr. allegedly followed him into an alley off the 400 block of North State and stabbed him in the neck around 2:15 a.m. on March 23, 2018.
Prosecutors said video footage showed Bassett looking at Beedle from across the street as the executive stood outside a bar on the 400 block of North State before the attack. Bassett then followed the 55-year-old into the alley. Moments later, the video showed Beedle holding his neck as he emerged from the alley and collapsed at the corner of State and Hubbard. He died minutes later. Police initially said they believed Beedle was killed during a robbery.
After killing Beedle, Bassett fled into the nearby Grand Red Line station, where he threatened two women with his knife and then boarded a train where cameras captured images of him counting money, sorting credit cards, and holding a knife, prosecutors said.
He fled to New York after the murder, but Chicago police arrested him at Union Station when he returned about two weeks later.
Bassett has now pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case. Prosecutors dropped four counts of murder and four counts of aggravated assault in the plea deal. Judge William Raines, who oversaw the case and sentenced Bassett, said the 60-year-old would receive credit for the 1,192 days he spent in jail since being arrested.
Bassett was well-known to police in the downtown area. He had amassed 89 criminal cases in Chicago since 1984 under names like Rico Diaz, Tom Thomas, Terry Hart, Jimmy Brooks, and Reggie Anderson. According to court records, six of the cases resulted in prison time, including a nine-year stint for robbing a Near North Side gas station in 2007 and three years for battering a cop at the Grand Red Line station in 2014.
Among the many cases that did not result in prison sentences was an ominous January 2015 incident in River North. That’s when prosecutors charged Bassett 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. Judge Clarence Burch sentenced him to 30 days.
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