Police find guns, cash and drugs in secret room in Belmont Cragin

A gang member thought his contraband was safely hidden in a secret room behind a rack of pool cues, but Chicago Police weren’t fooled while executing a search warrant Wednesday in Belmont Cragin.

Members of the CPD Gang Investigation Division executed the warrant at a home in the 3000 block of North Mason Avenue, a statement from police said. They initially found three firearms and various narcotics.

Then they “discovered a secret room located in the basement, whose entrance was concealed behind a rack of pool cues,” police said. Another three handguns and 5,000 grams of suspected marijuana were found in a safe in that hidden room.

By the end of the search, police had five handguns, a shotgun, about $7,000 in cash, the cannabis, and “various other narcotics including suspected hashish, suspected cocaine, and suspected anabolic steroids,” police said.

Richard Wierzba, 47, who lived in the home, was taken into custody after the search and charged with manufacture or delivery of cannabis over 5,000 grams, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of an anabolic steroid, police said.

Wierzba, a convicted felon, was ordered held without bond Friday, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.