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Feds charge heroin ring operated inside water department
By MIKE ROBINSON
Associated Press Writer / Chicago Tribune
Published June 8, 2005, 3:13 PM CDT
Eight men and women, including two employees of Chicago's scandal-plagued city water department, were arrested Wednesday as federal investigators rolled up what they described as one branch of a Colombian drug-trafficking operation.
The water department itself, already awash in charges of bribery and other political corruption, was not charged with being part of the heroin distribution ring. But investigators did find that department workers ``were engaging in this kind of conduct during weekdays, during workdays, when they should not have been,'' U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said at a news conference.
Federal officials said the ongoing investigation got under way in February with a tip from a government informant and could produce more arrests soon.
The charges came as a fresh blow to the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose standing with voters has fallen as a result of corruption, according to the latest Chicago Tribune poll.
A number of water department employees -- including the former first deputy commissioner, a longtime precinct captain in the Daley family's 11th Ward -- have been charged with corruption involving the $38 million Hired Truck Program, which outsourced work to private trucking companies, some with mob ties.
Private truckers got work under the Hired Truck Program in exchange for bribes and campaign contributions, federal officials allege.
Fitzgerald emphasized that the heroin charges were not part of the Hired Truck investigation. But he declined to say whether the initial tip that sparked the investigation came from anyone involved in the Hired Truck scandal.
Charged as the mastermind of the heroin-selling operation was George A. Prado, a water department hoisting engineer. His brother-in-law, Anthony C. Ritacco, and water department worker Michael D. Hart were charged with being members of the ring. Ritacco is a seasonal cement mixer for the city transportation department.
A third water department employee is a cooperating witness in the case, officials said.
One of those charged in the investigation was arrested Wednesday in New York; seven were arrested in Chicago.
A ninth defendant, described as a drug courier, was quietly taken into custody a week ago after Prado allegedly discussed beating him and perhaps killing him for losing a kilogram of heroin when Illinois State Police stopped his vehicle for a speeding violation.
"He is safely in jail,'' Fitzgerald told reporters.
In rounding up the defendants, FBI agents confiscated 16 kilograms of cocaine, a quarter kilogram of heroin, a gun and $50,000 in cash, Fitzgerald said.
Federal officials described Prado as a high-level distributor who bought heroin in bulk from Colombia and sold it in 100-gram amounts to wholesalers who then passed it along to dealers.
The operation was described in a four complaints totaling more than 100 pages. Two telephone taps were used to gather evidence, according to federal officials.
Even after the heroin was taken from the courier's truck on May 24, the distribution ring stayed in operation, federal officials said. They said the most recent transfer of drugs took place just two days before FBI agents and Chicago police moved in to make the arrests.
"Obviously that is very brazen,'' Fitzgerald said.
If convicted each defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life plus a $4 million fine.
Feds charge heroin ring operated inside water department
By MIKE ROBINSON
Associated Press Writer / Chicago Tribune
Published June 8, 2005, 3:13 PM CDT
Eight men and women, including two employees of Chicago's scandal-plagued city water department, were arrested Wednesday as federal investigators rolled up what they described as one branch of a Colombian drug-trafficking operation.
The water department itself, already awash in charges of bribery and other political corruption, was not charged with being part of the heroin distribution ring. But investigators did find that department workers ``were engaging in this kind of conduct during weekdays, during workdays, when they should not have been,'' U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said at a news conference.
Federal officials said the ongoing investigation got under way in February with a tip from a government informant and could produce more arrests soon.
The charges came as a fresh blow to the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose standing with voters has fallen as a result of corruption, according to the latest Chicago Tribune poll.
A number of water department employees -- including the former first deputy commissioner, a longtime precinct captain in the Daley family's 11th Ward -- have been charged with corruption involving the $38 million Hired Truck Program, which outsourced work to private trucking companies, some with mob ties.
Private truckers got work under the Hired Truck Program in exchange for bribes and campaign contributions, federal officials allege.
Fitzgerald emphasized that the heroin charges were not part of the Hired Truck investigation. But he declined to say whether the initial tip that sparked the investigation came from anyone involved in the Hired Truck scandal.
Charged as the mastermind of the heroin-selling operation was George A. Prado, a water department hoisting engineer. His brother-in-law, Anthony C. Ritacco, and water department worker Michael D. Hart were charged with being members of the ring. Ritacco is a seasonal cement mixer for the city transportation department.
A third water department employee is a cooperating witness in the case, officials said.
One of those charged in the investigation was arrested Wednesday in New York; seven were arrested in Chicago.
A ninth defendant, described as a drug courier, was quietly taken into custody a week ago after Prado allegedly discussed beating him and perhaps killing him for losing a kilogram of heroin when Illinois State Police stopped his vehicle for a speeding violation.
"He is safely in jail,'' Fitzgerald told reporters.
In rounding up the defendants, FBI agents confiscated 16 kilograms of cocaine, a quarter kilogram of heroin, a gun and $50,000 in cash, Fitzgerald said.
Federal officials described Prado as a high-level distributor who bought heroin in bulk from Colombia and sold it in 100-gram amounts to wholesalers who then passed it along to dealers.
The operation was described in a four complaints totaling more than 100 pages. Two telephone taps were used to gather evidence, according to federal officials.
Even after the heroin was taken from the courier's truck on May 24, the distribution ring stayed in operation, federal officials said. They said the most recent transfer of drugs took place just two days before FBI agents and Chicago police moved in to make the arrests.
"Obviously that is very brazen,'' Fitzgerald said.
If convicted each defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life plus a $4 million fine.
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