RAIDS TARGET GANG BEHIND DEADLY HEROIN MIX

Chicago Police Officer Among Dozens Arrested in 3 States

CHICAGO -- More than 30 people with alleged ties to a Chicago gang
were arrested before noon Wednesday in raids that took aim at a drug
ring accused of distributing a potent form of heroin that has killed
more than 130 people in recent weeks.

Among those arrested in the raids -- which also took place in Texas
and Ohio -- was Tashika Sledge, 29, a Chicago police officer. Court
papers allege that she had a relationship with a gang member and
informed the group about law enforcement activities.

The raids, carried out by more than 200 Chicago officers and 80
agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, came after a
yearlong investigation and represented authorities' first big strike
against a drug distribution network that is accused of selling heroin
laced with fentanyl, a powerful painkiller.

The rash of overdoses began in Chicago in early April. Since then,
heroin mixed with fentanyl has been linked to hundreds of overdoses
in Chicago and several other cities, including Detroit, St. Louis,
Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pa., Camden, N.J., and Wilmington, Del.

Police and health officials in those cities and elsewhere said the
potent heroin was one of the most dangerous drug combinations to hit
the streets in years. It was linked to 53 deaths and 362 non-fatal
overdoses in Chicago from April 13 to May 16. At least 54 deaths in
Detroit and 31 in Philadelphia have been linked to the heroin-fentanyl mix.

Authorities had federal warrants for 48 people and had arrested 29 of
them by late Wednesday. Two others were arrested after being found
with guns and drugs, DEA spokesman Chris Hoyt said.

The raids occurred at 30 sites in Chicago and its suburbs, including
Dearborn Homes Apartments, an 800-unit public-housing complex on
Chicago's South Side that has been plagued by a gang called Mickey Cobras.

Court papers filed in support of the warrants allege that the gang
controlled at least 10 distribution points in Chicago and at Dearborn
Homes. The gang has been linked to several shootings at the housing complex.

Sledge, the officer arrested Wednesday, had a relationship with an
alleged leader of the Mickey Cobras, Lynn Barksdale, according to a
sworn statement by Chicago Police Officer William Svilar that was
included in the court papers. Sledge, who was assigned to the police
district that includes Dearborn Homes, allowed Barksdale to use her
personal car to deliver 2 pounds of marijuana to a customer in Gary,
Ind., and tipped him off to police surveillance, the court papers allege.

Sledge was suspended from duty May 1. Calls to her cellphone were not
returned. "No one is above the law," Chicago police Superintendent
Phil Cline said.

Barksdale was among those arrested in the raids, Hoyt said. Also
arrested was the alleged head of the gang, James Austin, 29, who was
picked up late Tuesday in Akron, Ohio. Neither Barksdale nor Austin
could be reached for comment. All of those named in the federal
warrants face drug conspiracy charges.

Mary Jo Smith, a resident of Dearborn Homes, said the raids were
welcomed by "straight, legitimate citizens" whose lives have been
made more dangerous by drug dealing at the complex. "We'd be happy if
the police did it every week," said Smith, 56.

Heroin sold on the street normally is diluted, or "cut," with common
household products such as sugar or flour. It is unusual for heroin
to be cut with another powerful drug such as fentanyl, and the
combination of the two was particularly potent and deadly.

The court papers say leaders of the Mickey Cobras gang here have
bought fentanyl from a fellow gang member who lives in Texas. The DEA
suspects the fentanyl was smuggled into the USA from clandestine labs
in Mexico, said Tim Ogden, associate special agent in charge of the
DEA's office in Chicago. Mexican police seized the lab and arrested
five people, including a chemist, in Toluca, Mexico, in late May, Ogden said.

The DEA investigation found that large bags of fentanyl from the lab
were smuggled to Chicago, Detroit, Camden and Philadelphia, where the
drug was combined with other drugs, particularly heroin.

In April, DEA agents and Chicago police shut down an alleged cutting
operation at Dearborn Homes. The DEA continues to investigate how the
potent heroin made it to Chicago and the East Coast, Hoyt said.

The mixture was sold in Chicago under various nicknames, including
"Drop Dead," "Incredible Hulk," "Tsunami," and "Undertaker," Hoyt
said. Higher-level dealers bought 50 grams of heroin from gang
leaders for $4,250 and then typically sold the drug for about $100 a
gram, he said.