Dart strikes at 'migrating' crime rings near O'Hare

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart Thursday revealed a six-month campaign that had netted more than 100 arrests, 18 weapons and more than $100,000 in confiscated narcotics and cash in an attempt to quash drug, gun and prostitution rings that had "migrated" from Chicago's West Side to the suburbs just south of O'Hare International Airport.

"People dealing in narcotics and people known with gangs, not all of them are stupid," Dart said at a news conference at the Leyden Township Office on Mannheim Road in Franklin Park. "Not all of them are rocket scientists. But they're looking to make money, and they are finding this area very attractive. It's as simple as making it very unattractive to them that will drive them away."

Dart said drug dealers customarily found on Chicago's West Side moved out to hotels along the so-called Mannheim corridor south of O'Hare over the last year, drawn by the steady trade of drug-addicted prostitutes working in those hotels. That new location, however, also served as being more convenient for suburban drug addicts who suddenly didn't have to drive into the city, he said. Guns and gangs followed inevitably, and an April gun bust at the Lido Motel, 2415 N. Mannheim Road, Franklin Park, prompted the investigation.

"Operation Room Service," targeting five hotels in the area, was conducted by the Cook County Sheriff's Police Gang Crimes and Vice units along with the police departments of Stone Park, Franklin Park and Melrose Park. Over the last six months, it has produced 118 arrests of alleged drug and gun dealers, prostitutes and their clients. Dart pointed to the arrests of Juan Charo, 53, of the 1700 block of N. 43rd St., Stone Park; Jose Valles-Sanchez, 32, of the 1500 block of N. 39th St., Stone Park; and Carnell Johnson, 37, of the 3300 block of Butterfield Road, Bellwood, as "key figures in the drug-trafficking operations in the area."

"This business found that it was more lucrative to migrate to this area, that they would make more money, they'd be closer to their customers and they would have less interference from law enforcement," Dart said. "So they came out this way. What they did not expect was that we as a group were going to act in a unified fashion to get them, and we did."

Dart said the drug ring was sophisticated and that some of the hotels abetted the trade, informing guests of which rooms to go to to get which drugs. "Behind Door Number One might be heroin," Dart said. "Behind Door Number Two might be cocaine, behind Door Number Three marijuana. It was well-run, well-organized."

Dart thanked the local police departments and said the investigation would continue. "We have no delusions that the gangs and the like are going to vanish," he said. "We are going to stay vigilant, we're going to stay on it and we'll continue to work with the community."

Among those arrested from the Northwest suburbs were 28-year-old Tiffany Borre of the 1500 block of Stockton, Des Plaines; 21-year-old Thomas Koch of the 7500 block of N. Elmhurst Road, Des Plaines and 32-year-old Chautaqua Christopher, of the 1100 block of Budwood, Mount Prospect for delivery of a controlled substance and 45-year-old Peter D'Amico of Des Plaines for possession of a controlled substance.

Three targets of the investigation remained at large: Tuwayne Bell, 38, of the 1700 block of N. Mannheim Road, Stone Park; Frank Mandanici, 56, of the 200 block of W. Westmore-Meyers Road, Lombard; and Roger Murray, 54, of the 2300 block of S. 17th Ave., North Riverside.