13 Mar 35 charged in heroin phone ‘hotline’ bust
Nearly three dozen people were arrested by local and federal authorities as part of an investigation into the use of a telephone hotline to sell heroin often laced with the powerful painkiller fentanyl on Chicago’s West Side.
Federal drug charges were filed against 22 people and 13 others were charged with state-level crimes in connection with the operation, dubbed “Operation Road Rage, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.
The two-year investigation concentrated heavily on the West Garfield Park neighborhood – long considered one of the city’s high crime areas where many shootings and homicides are blamed on illegal drug activity.
The operation by Chicago police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies targeted alleged drug traffickers who ran a telephone hotline for customers that wanted to buy heroin and fentanyl-laced heroin.
The operators and dispatchers of this hotline often referred to themselves as “Sean,” officials said. The dispatchers for the hotline would then send drug dealers to different parts of the West Side to conduct business, officials said.
They said undercover officers learned of the hotline and made about 50 drug purchases from its dealers. Charges against the 35 defendants include drug conspiracy and distribution offenses.
During the operation, authorities seized a kilogram of heroin, most of which had fentanyl, about $100,000 in cash, five guns and four vehicles, officials said.
Twitter: @JeremyGorner
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