Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jun 2006
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Fentanyl
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

RAIDS TARGET GANG BEHIND DEADLY HEROIN MIX

Chicago Police Officer Among Dozens Arrested in 3 States

CHICAGO -- More than 30 people with alleged ties to a Chicago gang 
were arrested before noon Wednesday in raids that took aim at a drug 
ring accused of distributing a potent form of heroin that has killed 
more than 130 people in recent weeks.

Among those arrested in the raids -- which also took place in Texas 
and Ohio -- was Tashika Sledge, 29, a Chicago police officer. Court 
papers allege that she had a relationship with a gang member and 
informed the group about law enforcement activities.

The raids, carried out by more than 200 Chicago officers and 80 
agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, came after a 
yearlong investigation and represented authorities' first big strike 
against a drug distribution network that is accused of selling heroin 
laced with fentanyl, a powerful painkiller.

The rash of overdoses began in Chicago in early April. Since then, 
heroin mixed with fentanyl has been linked to hundreds of overdoses 
in Chicago and several other cities, including Detroit, St. Louis, 
Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pa., Camden, N.J., and Wilmington, Del.

Police and health officials in those cities and elsewhere said the 
potent heroin was one of the most dangerous drug combinations to hit 
the streets in years. It was linked to 53 deaths and 362 non-fatal 
overdoses in Chicago from April 13 to May 16. At least 54 deaths in 
Detroit and 31 in Philadelphia have been linked to the heroin-fentanyl mix.

Authorities had federal warrants for 48 people and had arrested 29 of 
them by late Wednesday. Two others were arrested after being found 
with guns and drugs, DEA spokesman Chris Hoyt said.

The raids occurred at 30 sites in Chicago and its suburbs, including 
Dearborn Homes Apartments, an 800-unit public-housing complex on 
Chicago's South Side that has been plagued by a gang called Mickey Cobras.

Court papers filed in support of the warrants allege that the gang 
controlled at least 10 distribution points in Chicago and at Dearborn 
Homes. The gang has been linked to several shootings at the housing complex.

Sledge, the officer arrested Wednesday, had a relationship with an 
alleged leader of the Mickey Cobras, Lynn Barksdale, according to a 
sworn statement by Chicago Police Officer William Svilar that was 
included in the court papers. Sledge, who was assigned to the police 
district that includes Dearborn Homes, allowed Barksdale to use her 
personal car to deliver 2 pounds of marijuana to a customer in Gary, 
Ind., and tipped him off to police surveillance, the court papers allege.

Sledge was suspended from duty May 1. Calls to her cellphone were not 
returned. "No one is above the law," Chicago police Superintendent 
Phil Cline said.

Barksdale was among those arrested in the raids, Hoyt said. Also 
arrested was the alleged head of the gang, James Austin, 29, who was 
picked up late Tuesday in Akron, Ohio. Neither Barksdale nor Austin 
could be reached for comment. All of those named in the federal 
warrants face drug conspiracy charges.

Mary Jo Smith, a resident of Dearborn Homes, said the raids were 
welcomed by "straight, legitimate citizens" whose lives have been 
made more dangerous by drug dealing at the complex. "We'd be happy if 
the police did it every week," said Smith, 56.

Heroin sold on the street normally is diluted, or "cut," with common 
household products such as sugar or flour. It is unusual for heroin 
to be cut with another powerful drug such as fentanyl, and the 
combination of the two was particularly potent and deadly.

The court papers say leaders of the Mickey Cobras gang here have 
bought fentanyl from a fellow gang member who lives in Texas. The DEA 
suspects the fentanyl was smuggled into the USA from clandestine labs 
in Mexico, said Tim Ogden, associate special agent in charge of the 
DEA's office in Chicago. Mexican police seized the lab and arrested 
five people, including a chemist, in Toluca, Mexico, in late May, Ogden said.

The DEA investigation found that large bags of fentanyl from the lab 
were smuggled to Chicago, Detroit, Camden and Philadelphia, where the 
drug was combined with other drugs, particularly heroin.

In April, DEA agents and Chicago police shut down an alleged cutting 
operation at Dearborn Homes. The DEA continues to investigate how the 
potent heroin made it to Chicago and the East Coast, Hoyt said.

The mixture was sold in Chicago under various nicknames, including 
"Drop Dead," "Incredible Hulk," "Tsunami," and "Undertaker," Hoyt 
said. Higher-level dealers bought 50 grams of heroin from gang 
leaders for $4,250 and then typically sold the drug for about $100 a 
gram, he said. 
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