Chicago Open-Air Drug Market Leader Gets Prison Time: Authorities

CHICAGO — A leader involved in the operation of a Chicago open-air drug market that sold heroin laced with fentanyl was sentenced Monday to 12 years and six months in prison, according to authorities.

Kelvin Franklin, 32, of Chicago, conspired with over 15 others to traffic narcotics in 2019 in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, authorities said.

A lengthy investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Chicago Police Department shut down the market in the 1000 block of North Monticello Avenue, where undercover authorities made about 80 purchases of heroin, some laced with fentanyl or fentanyl analog, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Dealers sometimes gave out free drugs to entice customers, authorities said.

In addition to supervising and conducting drug sales, Franklin tried to procure a loaded handgun for a member of the crew at the market, but law enforcement intervened and the gun was seized, according to the department.

Franklin was one of 18 people charged in 2020 in federal court as part of the investigation and one of 16 to plead guilty so far, authorities said. He pleaded guilty earlier in the year to a drug conspiracy charge, according to the department.