In preparation for the historically violent Fourth of July weekend, Chicago police officers arrested 180 people while confiscating dozens of illegal guns and drugs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs.
“When we conduct these operations, we don’t want the low-level guys that are selling drugs on the street corner,” First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio said during a news conference Wednesday police headquarters. “We want the guys that are calling the shots.”
The monthlong, citywide plan has netted police 180 arrests so far, with 38 guns — including an assault rifle capable of holding 100 bullets at a time — and $400,000 worth of illegal drugs being recovered as well, police said.
Forty-eight of those arrested were charged with delivery of a controlled substance.
Among those arrested was 66-year-old David Dixon, a six-time felon who, police said, used to report directly to Larry Hoover, the legendary Chicago gang boss who founded the Gangster Disciples.
Police and court records show that Dixon was arrested at a public housing facility for senior citizens in Fuller Park on June 24. He was charged with manufacturing/delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school as well as cannabis possession. Cook County Judge Susana L. Ortiz set Dixon’s bail at $1,000.
The CPD has made it a habit in recent years to highlight its targeted enforcement efforts and increases in deployment ahead of the two historically violent summer holiday weekends: Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
Seven people were killed and another 34 were wounded in shootings over the Memorial Day weekend in May.
