Seventeen people have been charged with trafficking heroin and cocaine in Chicago after a years-long investigation by Chicago police and federal officials dubbed “Operation Tragic Blow.”
U.S. Attorney John Lausch announced the charges during a press conference at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Among the drugs seized during the operation were 14 kilograms of cocaine in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood and two kilograms of heroin at a high-rise apartment building in the Buena Park neighborhood, officials announced Thursday.
The investigation was led by U.S. Homeland Security officials and Chicago police relying on undercover surveillance, part of a federal task force aimed at high-level drug operations, officials said Thursday.
Many of the 17 suspects were arrested Wednesday and were making initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Two other people are facing state charges from the investigation.
