12 Charged In Heroin Trafficking Investigation On West Side

CHICAGO — Twelve people are facing federal charges after an investigation into heroin trafficking on Chicago's West Side. The investigation, dubbed “Operation Dirty Ice,” included court-authorized searches of buildings in the Austin neighborhood and west suburban Bellwood, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Law enforcement intercepted cellphone communications between the offenders and conducted extensive surveillance, officials said. During the probe, authorities seized one-and-a-half kilograms of heroin, a half kilogram of crack cocaine, more than $892,000 in illicit cash proceeds and a stolen handgun, the attorney's office said.

The investigation was conducted under the umbrella of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, officials said.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges eleven defendants with conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, and one defendant with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. Many of the defendants were arrested Tuesday, and they have made initial appearances in federal court in Chicago, officials said.

According to the charges, Diamond Lake, 42, operated a drug trafficking organization that distributed nearly 500 grams of heroin in the Chicago area on a weekly basis, officials said. The organization used Lake’s home in Bellwood to store bulk quantities of heroin and to prepare the drug for street-level distribution, the complaint states.

Antwion Williams, 43, and Darnell Hudson, 42, parceled the drug in distinctive packaging with Lake by wrapping it in tinfoil and stapling it inside mini Ziploc bags, the complaint states. Williams and Hudson then allegedly worked with Derron Barton, 42, to bring the bags to street-level dealers, which included Steven Moore, 41, Romell Ratliff, 40, Deadre Hughes, 23, Lawrence Jones, 41, Clayvon Vivetter, 30, Willie Blake, 39 and Eddie Young, 39. After sales on the street, Williams, Hudson and Barton collected cash proceeds and delivered the money to Lake, the charges allege.

From May to October, Lake’s organization distributed at least 10 kilograms of heroin to customers on the West Side of Chicago, the complaint states. Many of the sales occurred in the city’s Austin neighborhood, officials said, including in the 100 block of North LaPorte Avenue, the 5000 block of West Maypole Avenue and the 4800 block of West Quincy Street.

Tyjuan Yates, 36, was charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute after heroin was seized in June in the Garfield Park neighborhood, the complaint states. Law enforcement discovered around 109 grams of packaged heroin in Yates’s vehicle in the 4400 block of West Fulton Street, according to the complaint.

The conspiracy charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, while the possession charge against Yates is punishable by up to 20 years.

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