10 Indicted In Mexico-To-Chicago Cocaine Pipeline Conspiracy

CHICAGO — Federal investigators are claiming success in dismantling a cocaine pipeline that extended from Mexico to Chicago. Most of the drug trafficking took place in the South Loop and Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood, and the south suburbs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. Ten individuals are facing criminal charges, two of whom are said to be on the lam.

During the investigation, law enforcement seized approximately 18 kilos of cocaine and more than $300,000 in drug money, according to federal complaints. Andres Villegas, 30, of Berwyn, worked with suppliers from Mexico to smuggle cocaine into the United States, who conspired with a network of traffickers to distribute drugs in the Chicago area, the feds allege.

Several deals took place in high-rise parking garages in the Near North Side Streeterville neighborhood and the South Loop, according to the charges. Other transactions cited in the charges occurred in Plainfield and Bolingbrook.

Charged in four separate indictments with drug conspiracy are Villegas; Gustavo Avila, 23, of Plainfield; Aaron Adams, 41, of Peoria; David Palm, 42 of Chicago; Alvin Brown, 51, of Chicago; Santiago Meraz, 35, of Milwaukee, Wis., Jorge Valdez, 33, Milwaukee, Wis.; Isodro Moya, 59, Chicago; and Eduardo Carrizales, 45, of Laredo, Tex.

Moya and Meraz remain at large and warrants have been issued for their arrests, the complaints said.

The indictments were returned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Arraignments for the other eight defendants have not yet been scheduled. The charges were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Robert J. Bell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The investigation also involved members of the Calumet City, Chicago, Evergreen Park, Gurnee, Oak Park, Palos Heights and Peoria police departments, assigned to the DEA investigation, along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.