Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis
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ARCHIVED Product No. 2007-R0813-008 Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis May 2007 U.S. Department of Justice Preface recent law enforcement reporting, information This assessment is a strategic overview of the obtained through interviews with law enforcement illicit drug situation in the Chicago High Intensity and public health officials, and available statistical Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region, highlighting data. The report is designed to provide policymakers, significant trends and law enforcement concerns resource planners, and law enforcement officials related to the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. with a focused discussion of key drug issues and The report was prepared through detailed analysis of developments facing the Chicago HIDTA. MN WI MI Waukegan IA 94 OH ¨¦§ IN IL ¨¦§90 MO KY §294 TN ¨¦ Area of Chicago HIDTA Elgin ¨¦§94 O’HARE INTL "o COOK n| 88 ¨¦§ Cicero Chicago Aurora ¨¦§355 Naperville 294 ¨¦§94 ¨¦§ 94 ¨¦§ Gary KENDALL ¨¦§90 Joliet 80 80 ¨¦§ ILLINOIS ¨¦§ WILL ¨¦§80 GRUNDY ¨¦§55 INDIANA ¨¦§65 HIDTA County Major City 250,000 + 100,000 - 249,999 ¨¦§57 less than 100,000 "o International Airport n| Major Seaport Interstate Figure 1. Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. This assessment is an outgrowth of a partnership between the NDIC and HIDTA Program for preparation of annual assessments depicting drug trafficking trends and developments in HIDTA Program areas. The report has been vetted with the HIDTA, is limited in scope to HIDTA jurisdictional boundaries, and draws upon a wide variety of sources within those boundaries. This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis Strategic Drug Threat deaths in the Chicago HIDTA region and in Developments Michigan. • Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and criminal groups dominate the transportation Drug Trafficking Organizations, and wholesale distribution of illicit drugs in the Criminal Groups, and Gangs Chicago HIDTA region. These organizations Drug trafficking organizations are complex organizations with highly defined command- operate as national-level distributors of illicit and-control structures that produce, transport, drugs, particularly to midwestern and eastern and/or distribute large quantities of one or more drug markets. illicit drugs. • African American and Hispanic street gangs Criminal groups operating in the United States such as Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, and are numerous and range from small to moderately Latin Kings dominate the retail distribution of sized, loosely knit groups that distribute one or cocaine, heroin, and marijuana in the HIDTA more drugs at the retail and midlevels. region. These street gangs are prevalent in urban Gangs are defined by the National Alliance of areas and are becoming more active in suburban Gang Investigators’ Associations as groups or Chicago communities. associations of three or more persons with a common identifying sign, symbol, or name, the • Some street gang members have relocated their members of which individually or collectively residences to suburban communities but still engage in criminal activity that creates an maintain control of drug markets in the city of atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Chicago, where most illicit drug sales occur. Increasingly, gang members distribute drugs HIDTA Overview inside residences or commercial properties, reg- The Chicago HIDTA region—consisting of ularly changing sales locations in response to Cook, Grundy, Kendall, and Will Counties in the Chicago Police Department’s effective street northeastern Illinois—is one of the largest con- corner initiatives that target open-air drug mar- sumer markets for illicit drugs in the United States. kets. The frequent relocation of indoor markets It serves as a national-level transshipment and dis- makes them inherently more difficult for law tribution center for cocaine, heroin, and marijuana enforcement to penetrate than traditional open- available throughout much of the country. air markets. • The ready availability and widespread abuse of With over 6 million residents, the region is illicit drugs in the Chicago HIDTA region con- densely populated, containing approximately one- tribute to the area’s violent crime rate; drug dis- half of Illinois’s population. Moreover, the region tributors and abusers commit a host of violent encompasses Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States. The diverse ethnic population in the crimes, including homicide, kidnapping, assault, region enables members of DTOs, criminal groups, and intimidation. and street gangs to easily assimilate into its many • The Chicago HIDTA region is a distribution communities and shield their drug trafficking activ- center for clandestinely produced fentanyl, a ities. For example, the Hispanic population in Chi- synthetic opioid that is more potent than heroin. cago is among the largest in the United States; Fentanyl is sold alone or in combination with approximately one-third of the city’s population is heroin; it is marketed in Chicago and is also dis- Hispanic (primarily Mexican). Mexican DTOs tributed in other areas that receive heroin sup- operate stash houses in many Hispanic communi- plies from Chicago, particularly Michigan. ties in Chicago and often employ individuals in Fentanyl and heroin/fentanyl combinations have these communities in various aspects of their drug been associated with hundreds of overdoses and trafficking operations. 2 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center The area has a highly accessible transportation methamphetamine distribution and abuse are lim- system, including major roadways that link the ited to particular areas of Chicago, especially along region to Mexico and southwestern states, major the North Side of the city among the gay commu- source areas for much of the cocaine, heroin, and nity and those who frequent night clubs. Despite marijuana available in the region. The transporta- low abuse levels, methamphetamine-related treat- tion infrastructure of the region also features the ment services1 at publicly funded treatment facili- nation’s largest trucking center, the second-busiest ties increased from 2001 through 2005. airport, and the busiest rail and postal facilities, facilitating the continuous flow of licit and illicit The greater metropolitan area of Chicago goods to and from the area. The Chicago HIDTA (Cook County), including Grundy, Kendall, and region is in proximity to Canada—a principal Will Counties, has one of the largest illicit drug source for some of the high-potency marijuana and user populations in the United States. Public health MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, agencies report increases in the number of persons also known as ecstasy) that are distributed in Chi- seeking treatment provider services for cocaine, cago or transshipped through the area to other U.S. heroin, and marijuana abuse in Chicago. For exam- drug markets. ple, the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse reports Drug Threat Overview that the number of persons seeking treatment in The distribution and abuse of cocaine (particu- publicly funded programs in Chicago for cocaine, larly crack), heroin, and marijuana as well as drug- heroin, and marijuana abuse steadily increased related criminal activity are the primary threats to public safety in the Chicago HIDTA region. Law Mickey Cobras Gang Members enforcement agencies in the region routinely seize Indicted for Heroin/Fentanyl large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana Distribution and regularly arrest members of DTOs, criminal On March 1, 2007, the U.S. Attorney for the groups, and street gangs. In 2006 Chicago HIDTA Northern District of Illinois announced a initiatives reported the seizure of more than 1,813 superseding indictment that charged seven kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of heroin, and members of the Mickey Cobras street gang in Chicago with conspiracy to distribute heroin and 17,222 kilograms of marijuana. Mexican DTOs fentanyl in the Dearborn Homes housing project and criminal groups control the transportation and in the city. Members of Mickey Cobras allegedly wholesale distribution of illicit drugs in the Chi- facilitated and controlled the distribution of cago HIDTA region. Many of these traffickers are heroin mixed with clandestinely produced directly associated with DTOs operating in Mexico fentanyl, which they obtained from Mexican or the southwestern United States. Street gangs are traffickers who manufactured the drug in Toluca, the primary distributors of illicit drugs at the retail Mexico. Thirteen other individuals associated level. These gangs regularly engage in violence to with the organization were charged with protect their drug supplies, distribution territories, conspiracy to produce fentanyl. Members of the and illicit proceeds gained from drug distribution. Mickey Cobras street gang performed various tasks, including mixing heroin and fentanyl, Wholesale quantities of methamphetamine tran- transporting it to locations at the Dearborn sit the Chicago HIDTA region en route to drug mar- Homes projects, selling the heroin/fentanyl combinations to individual customers, and kets in the Midwest; however, methamphetamine transporting the proceeds from the sales. distribution