Members of Mexican Drug Cartel's Chicago Cell Indicted
By MIKE ROBINSON
Updated 8:15 PM CST, Fri, Nov 20, 2009
Fifteen people with ties to the Mexican drug cartel La Familia Michoacana have been indicted on charges of taking part in a major Chicago-area cocaine conspiracy, prosecutors announced Friday.
The people charged in indictments returned Thursday were arrested in August as part of the government's Operation Coronado, an effort launched in 2007 to break La Familia's grip on the U.S. cocaine market.
The cartel is named for the State of Michoacan in southwestern Mexico and is accused by federal prosecutors of being responsible for hauling vast quantities of cocaine into the United States from south of the border.
Drug Enforcement Agency officials have arrested more than 300 people in 19 states as part of the operation, prosecutors said.
In the Chicago area, 250 grams of cocaine and $8 million were seized in raids that mainly took place at locations in suburban Berwyn, Bolingbrook, Oak Lawn, Hickory Hills, Joliet and Justice.
All 15 Chicago-area defendants were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine in multi-kilogram quantities. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life plus a $4 million fine.
Among those charged were the two men identified as leaders of the distribution network in the Chicago area, Jorge Luis Torres-Galvan, 31, of Danforth, and Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, 37, of Joliet.
The United States Department of Justice has the indictment and more details on their Web site (.pdf).
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Chicago
First Published: Nov 20, 2009 8:04 PM CST
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