43 charged in 'Latin Kings' drug bust

Prosecutors say 43 people in Illinois face drug and weapons charges after an investigation in which an undercover agent infiltrated the Latin Kings street gang. The Justice Department said in a release Thursday 26 alleged members and associates of the Latin Kings face federal charges, mostly for their alleged participation in drug-trafficking organizations that distributed large amounts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana in and around Chicago. Another 17 people face drug-related state charges in Cook and Will counties. The charges resulted from a two-year investigation into drug and weapons trafficking conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Joliet Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, as well as other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Justice Department said. Authorities reported seizing cash and firearms during raids Wednesday in which 16 of the federal defendants were arrested. Six of the defendants named in the federal charges were already in custody and four are fugitives. Three of the federal defendants were arrested this week for allegedly planning to steal cocaine from what they had understood was a drug stash house -- but which was in fact a front for the undercover investigation, the Justice Department said. The overarching investigation made critical use of an undercover agent who successfully infiltrated the Latin Kings for an extended time. Gary Hartwig, special agent-in-charge of Homeland Security Investigations, said the investigation "has dealt a serious blow to alleged criminal organizations suspected of trafficking large quantities of heroin and cocaine from Mexico into the Chicago area." "The arrests, including those of several high-ranking Latin Kings gang members, dismantled a destructive supply chain and prevented untold amounts of dangerous drugs and guns from reaching our streets," Hartwig said.