Federal authorities say customers lined up around a corner on Chicago's West Side in broad daylight in hopes of a getting heroin.
Now, 42 people now face state or federal narcotics charges for their alleged roles in supplying and distributing heroin around West Grenshaw Street and Independence Boulevard in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.
Authorities allege 33-year-old James Triplett, also known as “Trell,” was a wholesale supplier of heroin and ran the heroin trade in the area.
A photo included in a more than 200-page federal criminal complaint shows a line of people waiting on June 16 in the 3700 block of West Grenshaw to get heroin from Triplett's organization.
The area where the photo was taken, south of the Eisenhower Expressway corridor, has been referred to as “Heroin Highway” because of the accessibility it provides to city and suburban heroin customers.
Authorities claim Triplett’s suppliers, who authorities identified as 34-year-old Levaughn Collins, also known as "Sweet Bobby," and Collins' associates, would use clear bags or ones with logos of green playboy bunnies, brown Hershey kisses, orange basketballs, Batman, black pandas or purple ladies stamped on them.
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Sixteen people now face federal charges, including Triplett, who was charged with drug conspiracy and faces at least a 10-year sentence if convicted. Twenty-six other people face state charges.
Authorities said 32 people were arrested Wednesday morning and police confiscated 12 firearms, $50,000 in cash, nearly a half-kilogram of heroin and more than a half-kilogram of cocaine. They also searched several homes, three alleged stash houses and seized two vehicles, including a 2014 Maserati GranTurismo.
Chicago police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents on the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force led the investigation.
"Too many lives in Chicagoland are forever lost due to heroin use," Dennis Wichern, special agent in charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement. "I'm proud of the work done by these agents, officers and prosecutors, who worked tirelessly to achieve these results and I’m confident that with our continued partnership, we will have increasing success."
