In a press release Saturday, Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said one of the open-air drug markets was near a school. A second undercover investigation found three street gangs were working together to sell drugs.
"Dismantling drug markets is critical to decreasing gang violence and criminal activity in our communities," McCarthy was quoted in the release. "We improve the quality of life in our City by taking down these drug markets and removing the involved criminals, weapons, and narcotics from the streets."
He says police executed search warrants and seized firearms, two vehicles, cash and heroin, marijuana, ecstasy and crack cocaine.
The suspects were charged with drug and gun offenses, including possession and delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
