Chicago police shut down a West Side street-corner heroin operation, then posed as drug dealers to arrest 60 customers, including 17 from the suburbs, authorities announced Wednesday.
Police said the Traveling Vice Lords gang operated an open-air drug market at Lexington Street and Francisco Avenue in North Lawndale, grossing as much as $20,000 per day. Of those arrested last week, 43 were from Chicago. Other customers came from Carpentersville, Northbrook, Kankakee, Evanston, Berwyn, River Grove, Elmhurst, LaSalle, Bridgeview, Palos Hills, Cicero, Broadview, Maywood and Elmwood Park, according to Police Department spokesman David Bayless.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Jane Hirt (jhirt@tribune.com) and Michael Morgan (mnmorgan@tribune.com)
