More than 50 charged in investigation of heroin and fentanyl sales on Chicago's West Side

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than 50 people were charged this week, including an alleged Mexico-based drug trafficker and other men from the Chicago area and Wisconsin, as part of a massive federal and state investigation into heroin and fentanyl sales on Chicago's West Side, federal officials announced Wednesday.

According to the federal complaints, the "Operation Full Circle" investigation nabbed Krzysztof Rak, 60, who allegedly operates a drug trafficking organization in Mexico, and worked with Christopher J. Doss, 47, of Racine, Wis., to distribute wholesale quantities of fentanyl to customers in the Chicago area.

Donald Holmes, Sr., 56, of Chicago, and Ivan Walton, 45, of Lynwood, participated in the organization by regularly distributing Rak's narcotics in the Chicago area and collecting payment from customers, according to the charges. The federal complaints describe a meeting earlier this year between Doss and Walton in a restaurant parking lot in south suburban Matteson, according to a statement. During the meeting, Doss supplied Walton with more than 880 grams of fentanyl, the charges allege. Law enforcement conducted surveillance of the transaction after securing court authorization to wiretap certain telephones.

In another narcotics transaction described in the federal complaints, Nakia McClinic, 43, of Chicago, attempted to deliver heroin and fentanyl to an individual who had received the drug order from Deshawn Moore, 24, of Bellwood. Law enforcement was watching when McClinic arrived at the meeting in a parking lot near the University of Illinois at Chicago, the complaints state. Officers attempted to pull over McClinic's vehicle but he sped off, tossing the drugs out of the driver's side window, the charges allege. McClinic's vehicle was successfully stopped a short while later, and the narcotics were recovered nearby.

Tekoa Q. Tinch, 30, of Bloomington, Ill., allegedly agreed to kidnap an individual who owed money in exchange for drugs and a split of any money recovered from the victim. Last month, Tinch met with an undercover law enforcement officer, who was posing as a representative of the Mexico-based group, in a grocery store parking lot in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, the complaints state. During the meeting, Tinch accepted a sham kilogram of cocaine as a purported down payment on the kidnapping, the complaints state. Tinch was then arrested and his car was searched, revealing the guns, duct tape and chains, the charges allege.

The investigation resulted in the seizure of more than 2 kilograms of heroin, a kilogram of fentanyl, and 300 pounds of marijuana. Authorities also seized 17 illegal firearms, including three rifles, and approximately $8,000 in narcotics proceeds.

The probe was conducted under the umbrella of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), in cooperation with the Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force (HIDTA). OCDETF is a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies targeting serious drug trafficking organizations.

Criminal complaints and affidavits filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago charged seven defendants with various drug offenses, and two defendants with firearm offenses. Several of the federal defendants were arrested Tuesday. Detention hearings for some of the federal defendants will be held on June 22. Forty-eight other defendants were charged in state complaints, and many of them were also arrested Tuesday. They have begun making initial appearances in Cook County Criminal Court.