Hide Article Text (OCR)
Testimony says Mexican family runs drug traffic through AuroraBy Charles S. Ward World staff writerThe Herrera Organization is an international cartel of 1,000 employes based in Mexico, Chicago and Aurora, Mary Hohler, intelligence analyst for the U S. Drug Enforcement Administration told members of Congress Saturday.She was one of six final witnesses in a hearing before the U S, House Select Committee on Narcotics. Saturday's session was the last of a two-day hearing in the Everett M Dirksen Federal Building in ChicagoThe focus of the hearing was how the Herrera family, a series of up to six families, conducts an illicit heroin trade using couriers, negotiable instruments they obtain from banks around the country, and thousands of dollars.“They wear 10-gallon hats and boots, in Durango State, where there are no federates (federal police) They go to cock fights. They are millionaires who market one of the deadliest of all products: Mexican Mud, or heroin,’’ she said.She testified that the family hasbeen operating for the past 20 years. The older Herreras man the poppy fields and the laboratories in Durango which turn the poppy gum into opium and then heroin.She said in Illinois, Herreras live in the Roseland area of Chicago, 10 miles south of the Loop. There are about 26 separate small family units in Chicago.Also, they live on Chicago’s Southwest Side, between 18th and 26th Street and have a branch in Aurora, 30 miles west of Chicago, she said.On a chart she showed that the Aurora connection was carried out by sons erf the original Herreras who go under the name of Herrera-Venegas.Federal and state authorities have arrested only 187 of the 1,000family members, she told the committee.She said Eliazar Herrera-Venegas was arrested in Chicago in connection with an auto which contained 17 pounds of heroin and $94,000 cash, reputedly bound for DurangoThe funds, she said, were seized by Internal Revenue Service agents.The Herrera-Venegas story she told was typical of convoy type operations of a very complex sort. ’’ She said autos were switched in Chicago.Hohler also told committee members that Chicago was the major distribution point for the East Coast. Puerto Ricans come to Chicago to meet with Herrera connections, obtain heroin and flyback on commercial flights to distribute itShe said there are 26 combinations of Herrera names in the Chicago area, and 659 legal aliens with that name or a combination of it registered in Chicago.Other statements made Saturday were from Charles F. Miriam, director, Chicago district, Internal Revenue Service, and Thomas B Kirkpatrick Jr., executive director of the Illinois Dangerous Drugs Commission.Several committee members questioned Miriam on the prospect of investigations to rid the nation of the heroin traffic.“I get the feeling that the narcotic trafficker is not among the top priorities with the IRS,” said Thomas Railsback of Illinois.Miriani testified that of 47 violators supplied by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS could build cases against only four.Minani said narcotics peddlers weave financial trails that no auditor could follow.Kirkpatrick testified that there were about 40,000 heroin addicts in the Chicago area.He testified that during 1977 the commission spent $8.5 million for treatment of addicts in Chicago, serving about 7,000 of the 40,000 addicts.Aurora was not mentioned as having any of the 600 financial institutions suspected of laundering funds, a major step in the Durango Pipeline of drug traffickingChicago Police Sgt Robert L.Klunk testified that on Sept. 29, 1974, intelligence units uncovered Mexican drug traffic in the Auroraarea.Addresses on Schiller Avenue and Claim Street in Aurora were given to federal narcotics agents, Klunk said, as well as the names David, Helidoro and Eliazaf Herrera .*Klunk said David Herrera was operating in the Chicago area.Efforts to arrest him brought Chicago policemen inside the drug culture, he said.Klunk testified that recently they gathered data showing that for every kilo of drugs sent to Chicago by the organization, $17,000 was returned to Mexico“For a number of years, this money would return by the same route the dope was brought up. but as result of money losses (in auto gas tanks and on the person of illegil aliens) another method was devised,’’ Klunk said.Money orders from currency exchanges were usedDrugs / 2, 1
Newspaper Details
Dekalb World
Dekalb, Illinois, US
Thu, Oct 06, 1977
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Sarah E.
USA 09 Aug 2023
Other Publications Near Dekalb, Illinois
DeKalb Daily Chronicle
Dekalb World
