KEY ARREST IN KILLER HEROIN SPREE

Police made a key arrest Thursday in their investigation into the
deadly drugs hitting the streets, nabbing a West Side dealer who
could lead to a supplier of fentanyl-laced heroin that has killed
more than 60 people in Cook County.

Chicago Police have so far rounded up more than 100 suspected dealers
during their two-month probe, but Thursday's arrest of an alleged
gang member is considered the most significant so far.

"This is one of our best leads to track how this fentanyl is coming
in and being put on the heroin," said a source familiar with the arrest.

A small dose of fentanyl is in the circle, officials say. Mixed with
heroin, it has caused more than 60 Cook County deaths. (RICHARD A.
CHAPMAN/ SUN-TIMES)

The 26-year-old suspect, a member of the Vice Lords, was operating
drug sales on the West Side near Lavergne, Cicero and Huron, sources
said. Chicago Police and federal law enforcement reportedly were led
to him after he started selling heroin to young adults -- and some
teens -- from far southwest suburban Lemont.

The dealer, whose identity was not released, was being questioned by
investigators who were hoping to learn more about where he was
getting his supply of heroin, which tests have shown was laced with fentanyl.

"It's poison," said Lemont Police Chief Kevin Shaughnessy, who
credited the Chicago Police Department for making the arrest. "I
would like to think there would be some person in Lemont that
wouldn't be able to get that drug."

'Putting the pieces together'

Nationally, hundreds of people have died in at least eight states
from using heroin or cocaine laced with fentanyl, an extremely
powerful synthetic drug that kills in small doses.

Federal law enforcement officials say the fentanyl, which is
manufactured for legal use as a pain-killer, is being made in a
clandestine lab and mixed into the nation's illegal drug supply. A
lab in Mexico where the drug might have been made was taken down in
late May by authorities there.

Timothy Ogden, associate special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration's Chicago field division, said there may
well be more than one lab cranking out fentanyl.

Ogden made his remarks at the close of a two-day fentanyl conference
here this week. He said investigators were still trying to understand
the distribution system of the tainted drugs that have hit cities
including St. Louis, Camden, N.J., and Detroit. Busts of dealers and
learning where their supply is coming from will be key to figuring
out why some cities have been hit so hard -- like Chicago and Detroit
- -- and others have not.

"We're just putting the pieces together to figure out the pattern,"
Ogden said. "We're getting our hands around it."

Fentanyl-laced heroin has surfaced before, and clandestine labs in
the United States have been busted in the past. But Ogden said the
problem this time is more widespread and critical.

The drug is hundreds of times stronger than morphine and heroin and
is deadly in even the tiniest of doses. Some users who have died from
overdosing have been found with needles still in their arms.

"In almost 30 years of law enforcement, I haven't seen a threat that
concerns me as much as this," Ogden said.

The outbreaks in Chicago have occurred mostly on the South and West
sides, but police Supt. Phil Cline said Thursday that every district
has experienced an overdose because of fentanyl.

'It can happen to anyone'

Most of the fatal overdoses in Cook County date to the beginning of
the year. But an analysis by the Cook County medical examiner's
office shows that deaths linked to fentanyl -- 64 as of this week --
date back to April 2005.

Victims have also died in the suburbs, from Blue Island to Cicero to Wilmette.

While there are no known fentanyl-related deaths in Lemont, the idea
of the drug being sold on his streets was a great concern to
Shaughnessy. He also pointed out that Lemont straddles three counties
- -- Will, DuPage and Cook -- and that victims might buy in one town
but die elsewhere.

Shaughnessy alerted Chicago Police a few months ago after several
residents of the 14,000-person community told investigators they were
going into the city to purchase from the same dealer. Shaughnessy
said he hopes people realize no community is immune to a drug problem.

"This is a pristine area," he said. "It can happen to anyone."

The tainted heroin first emerged as a problem in Chicago in February
after South Side detectives noticed a pattern of fatal overdoses
centered around the Dearborn Homes at 29th and State.

A heroin task force was formed, and the department immediately began
coordinating with the Chicago DEA office to test any confiscated
drugs. So far this year, the city has experienced a 43 percent
increase in non-fatal overdoses.