Chicago Drug Fugitives Arrested in Mexico

Two former Chicago residents with ties to a sophisticated drug operation who had been on the run from law enforcement for nearly a decade, were located and arrested earlier this week in Mexico, announced Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Jody P. Weis, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).

JUAN CARLOS DURAN, age 34, who is also known as “Psycho” and his common law wife, DIONNE GARCIA, age 33, both of whom were last known to reside at 2955 West 40th Street in Chicago, were arrested without incident on Tuesday, October 5th, near Tijuana, Mexico, by members of the Policia Estatal Preventiva (PEP), an international liaison and enforcement unit.

DURAN and GARCIA have been the subjects of an international manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG), since late 2001 when both were charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of Federal drug laws. DURAN was charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute (PCP) and conspiracy while GARCIA was charged with conspiracy.

DURAN and GARCIA were among 52 people charged in connection with an investigation code named “Operation Blue Water”, which targeted a Chicago based street gang that manufactured and distributed PCP in Chicago and northwest Indiana. DURAN eluded arrest at the time the charges were filed while GARCIA fled after being released on bond following her arrest.

The arrest of DURAN and GARCIA was the result of a tip provided by a viewer of the television show “America’s Most Wanted” who saw DURAN and GARCIA featured during a recent episode. Further investigation by the Chicago JTFG, with the assistance of FBI Agents assigned to the Resolution Six initiative in Tijuana and Mexican authorities, ultimately resulted in the location of DURAN and GARCIA and their subsequent arrest.

DURAN and GARCIA were turned over to FBI Agents in San Diego, late yesterday. They are scheduled to have their initial court appearance later this afternoon, prior to their eventual return to Chicago to face the outstanding charges.

The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI Special Agents and Gang Crimes Officers from the Chicago Police Department.

Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra's Family Receives Discounted Chicago Water Bill

City meter readers always seemed to have a hard time getting inside the Bridgeport home of the late Chicago mob boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra to read his water meter.

So City Hall repeatedly sent estimated water bills to the 6,000-square-foot home, where LaPietra's daughter, JoAnne Lascola, lives.

City workers finally got inside on Aug. 26, 2009, to install a new meter -- one that can be read electronically by a meter reader driving past the house.

In removing the old meter, though, they found they had been drastically underestimating how much water LaPietra's family was using.

So, on Oct. 10, 2009, the city sent the family a bill for $1,156.66 -- $625.22 of that for about 355,000 gallons of water and $531.44 for sewer service.

The family balked. Three weeks later, the city slashed the bill to $256.55.

"In implementing the [automatic meter-reading] program, we found some readings from old meters came under question by customers, especially when they had not been read over a period of time," City Hall said in response to questions from the Chicago Sun-Times. "In these cases, customers were given the benefit of the doubt and charged on the basis of an average of previous bills."

In the LaPietra family's case, "A one-time adjustment of $900.11 was made to the account . . . because the customer had been estimated for a period of time, as a result of our inability to access the meter to obtain a meter reading."

Authorities say LaPietra, a brutal Chicago Outfit boss who died in 1999, ran the mob's 26th Street Crew, overseeing gambling in the Loop and Chinatown. He was once convicted of skimming millions of dollars from Las Vegas casinos.