COP CHARGED IN DRUG RING

A veteran Chicago gang crimes officer was arrested Wednesday on charges
that he was part of a cocaine and heroin operation that stretched from
Chicago to Miami, offering it protection for a year but then, boldly,
taking control of its local business.

The arrest represents the first part of a three-part investigation that,
according to sources, is focusing on several police officers who are
suspected of shaking down or robbing drug dealers of money and
cocaine--charges similar to those in the Austin and Gresham Districts that
rocked the department two years ago.

The officer charged Wednesday, Joseph Miedzianowski, 45, allegedly made
hundreds of thousands of dollars over three years as he alerted drug
traffickers to police investigations, robbed and extorted from dealers and
even brokered cocaine deals, court documents contend.

When dealers would fly from Florida to Chicago to deliver cocaine or
heroin, sources said, the officer would flash his badge to escort them
through the airport security and ensure the drugs were delivered.

Federal officials said Miedzianowski of the 8500 block of West St. Joseph
Avenue also funneled guns to drug dealers and stole ammunition from the
Cook County sheriff's shooting range with inside help.

Miedzianowski, an officer for 22 years, and 11 other suspects--some of whom
are alleged to be gang members--were charged in federal court with
conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine and heroin. Miedzianowski was
the only police officer charged.

The arrests broke now, according to sources, because a telephone operator
in Miami misread wiretapping orders and called Miedzianowski, letting him
know he was under investigation and his calls were being recorded. Sources
said Miedzianowski, whose home phones and beeper were bugged, then began to
contact cohorts, forcing police to arrest him. They had planned to continue
the investigation into January.

FBI agents are investigating whether other Chicago officers interfered with
cases involving drug suspects by falsely claiming to other officers that
they were informants assisting with investigations.

U.S. Atty. Scott Lassar said the investigation of Miedzianowski began only
a few months ago, although Police Supt. Terry Hillard acknowledged that
complaints Miedzianowski had shaken down or robbed drug dealers in the past
had been examined by internal affairs investigators.

The complaints could not be substantiated, and Hillard said he would order
a review of those internal investigations in light of the federal charges.

A supervisor at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, where
Miedzianowski worked on a task force in the early 1990s, also has alleged
he stole from drug dealers in a lawsuit she filed against him. The federal
suit, filed in 1995, is pending.

According to the charges, Miedzianowski began working for two "large-scale"
drug traffickers in 1995, earning $12,000 a month for warning them about
investigations. The traffickers were identified as Mohammed S. Omar and
Juan Martir.

Omar was charged. Martir was named as an unindicted co-conspirator; he is
cooperating with prosecutors, sources said.

In the summer of 1996, according to the charges, Miedzianowski took another
step in the organization and began acting as a middleman between dealers.
He allegedly brokered drug transactions, buying between 1 and 2 kilograms
of cocaine every week or 10 days, according to the charges.

By year's end, after Martir had moved to Miami, Miedzianowski had taken
control of the Chicago drug operation, according to the charges.

It was a status that Lassar said was unusual, if not unheard of, for a
crooked police officer, and one that raises questions of how he could run a
drug operation without his colleagues--or internal affairs--finding out.

"You work with a partner only eight hours a day. . . . These guys aren't
married to their partners," said Hillard at a news conference.

He added: "If there were red flags up and we didn't know, that's what I
need to find out."

When Martir was arrested in Miami in February, according to the charges,
Miedzianowski allegedly persuaded Martir not to cooperate in other
investigations.

Miedzianowski, according to other officers, was hardworking and aggressive.

"He's one of the best policemen I've ever worked with, and we were on the
same team together," said George Figueroa, a gang investigation specialist
who's worked with Miedzianowski. "He's smart. He has a lot of informants."

In the mid-1980s, Miedzianowski and his longtime partner, John Galligan,
were suspended for roughing up a minister who was a supporter of Mayor
Harold Washington. The two were cleared and later sued the city, getting
their jobs back and an $80,000 settlement. Galligan declined to comment
Wednesday.

Miedzianowski and nine of the other defendants made initial appearances in
federal court Wednesday afternoon.

Prosecutors Brian Netols and Jonathan King said they will seek to hold them
pending trial, saying they are dangers to the community and risks to flee.

Miedzianowski, who made $55,000 a year as a police officer, had a share of
at least two businesses--a Harlem Avenue salon called Sanctuary of Hair and
a Belmont Avenue tattoo parlor.

At Sanctuary of Hair, 5445 N. Harlem Ave., owner Irek Marciniec said he has
known Miedzianowski for about a year. He said FBI agents searched the shop
for 3 1/2 hours on Wednesday and left with several boxes of files.

Among the other places searched was the home of a Cook County sheriff's
officer suspected of supplying Miedzianowski with ammunition stolen from
the sheriff's shooting range.

At Miedzianowski's modest, one-story home, dozens of federal officers spent
the day loading an unmarked blue van with material they had gathered.
Sources said they seized a large numbers of weapons and ammunition.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski