Feb. 08--A joint investigation by law enforcement officials helped take down a North Side drug operation that crossed into Evanston and Skokie and netted about $2.5 million over the course of the investigation, police said.
The investigation, dubbed Operation Tangled Web, targeted Black P Stones gang leaders on the North Side and focused on drug trafficking that involved gang members in Chicago and the northern suburbs of Evanston and Skokie, police said.
Law enforcement officials used court-ordered wiretaps that ultimately revealed the multimillion-dollar operation. The wiretaps focused on the dealings of Black P Stones leaders Craig "Chop" Johnson and Henry "Mix" Wiggins, who ran the operation, police said.
Their operation was found to also supply gangs outside of the Black P Stone Nation that deal drugs on the North Side.
At least 22 people were charged with calculated criminal drug conspiracy, including Melvin Foote, an original ranking member of the Black P Stones, police said.
Officials seized eight vehicles, about $58,000 in cash, 377 grams of crack cocaine and a 9 mm gun during a search warrant.
Wiggins also was charged with possession of a defaced firearm in addition to the conspiracy charge, which carries up to a 30-year prison sentence if convicted.
The Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Organized Crime, the Chicago Police Gang Investigation Unit and the FBI Joint Task Force on Gangs were a part of the sting.
