Leader of Chicago drug trafficking ring receives prison sentence
Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's Office
CHICAGO - The leader of a Northwest Side drug trafficking organization that sold heroin and fentanyl-laced drugs was sentenced to twelve and a half years in federal prison.
Kelvin Franklin, 32, was part of a group of 18 men who allegedly worked at an open-air drug market in Humboldt Park, where undercover agents made about 80 purchases during a year-long investigation dubbed "Operation Monticello’s Revenge."
Franklin worked as street-level managers of the market, coordinating the sale of fentanyl-laced heroin, and personally sold drugs to undercover officers more than a dozen times.
Franklin pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal drug conspiracy charge. U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. imposed the sentence Monday.
Intercepted phone calls show the group made thousands of dollars daily from drug sales, prosecutors said.
Investigators estimate the group sold, between February 2019 and October that year, more than 12 kilograms of heroin, 16 kilograms of fentanyl-laced heroin, 7 kilograms of heroin with synthetic fentanyl, according to the complaint.
Police recorded more than 2,400 drug-related arrests at the Monticello drug spot between January 2019 and May 2020, according to prosecutors. More than 200 other arrests at the spot were for weapons. In all, more than 19,000 service calls were made by Chicago police there.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.