Leader of International Drug Trafficking Group’s Chicago Operations Sentenced to 16 Years in Federal Prison

CHICAGO - The leader of an international drug trafficking group's Chicago operations has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison.

ANTONIO CARRAZCO-MARTINEZ ran the Chicago operations of a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization allegedly led by PABLO ANIBAL VAZQUEZ-DUARTE. In 2016 and 2017, Carrazco-Martinez conspired with members of the organization to traffic cocaine and heroin from Mexico to the Chicago area. Carrazco-Martinez was responsible for receiving large amounts of drugs, maintaining a stash house, distributing the drugs to the group's customers, and sending illicit cash proceeds back to Mexico.

A federal jury in Chicago last year convicted Carrazco-Martinez, 43, of Fort Valley, Ga., on drug trafficking charges. U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman imposed the 16-year sentence on Thursday during a hearing in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Substantial assistance was provided by the Chicago Police Department, Illinois State Police, Waukegan, Ill. Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and IRS Criminal Investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Erskine, Alejandro Ortega, and Kirsten Moran.

The case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers and other criminal offenders that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement against criminal networks.

Carrazco-Martinez is one of nine defendants convicted as part of the investigation. Three other defendants, including Vazquez-Duarte, are considered fugitives and believed to be residing in Mexico.