A drug trafficker who worked with his father and others running a cocaine delivery service selling what a U.S. Attorney said is “poison” in Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Palatine and Des Plaines has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison, authorities said.
Tony J. Cayuela, 43, of Chicago was sentenced earlier this month to seven years in prison for operating a drug trafficking organization in 2018 that distributed cocaine to hundreds of customers in the Chicago area, including many of the north suburbs, according to a release from the U.S. attorney’s office, Northern District of Illinois.
It said federal law enforcement, working with local law enforcement, shut down the drug trafficking organization during a multiyear investigation known as “Operation Flawed Deal” and that during the probe, authorities seized multiple bank accounts, more than a kilogram of cocaine, a Mercedes G63 sport utility vehicle, and two handguns.
“With regard to assistance from those police departments, some of their officers were members of the OCDETF/North Suburban Safe Streets Task Force, which conducted extensive law enforcement work as part of our investigation,” said Joseph D. Fitzpatrick with the Assistant U.S. Attorney Northern District of Illinois.
The group was selling cocaine in Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Palatine and Des Plaines, as well as other communities, and those police departments were credited with helping break the case against the drug trafficking organization, the release said.
“It’s important to highlight the cooperativeness of this investigation, local municipalities coming together to address an individual that’s involved in drug trafficking in the shared communities of the North Shore and the North Side of Chicago,” said Evanston Police Commander Ryan Glew.
Cayuela packaged wholesale quantities of cocaine into one-gram bags for retail sale and dispatched at least 18 drivers to make deliveries to customers, according to the release. It said one of the drivers was Tony Cayuela’s father, Tony F. Cayuela, 68, of Chicago. All 18 defendants charged in the investigation, including the Cayuelas, pleaded guilty and admitted to their roles in the trafficking operation. In addition to the drug conspiracy, Tony J. Cayuela also pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge, said the release.
“We value our partnership with our federal partners because we’re able to work with them to bring additional resources to problems that might be a little more difficult to address on a state level,” Glew said. “We’re able to address issues that we have in common.”
In the release, U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch said the convictions and federal prison sentences in the operation should serve as a “warning” to those who “distribute poison” in Chicago area communities.
“We will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “Our federal and local law enforcement partners in this operation performed exemplary work to dismantle a significant drug trafficking organization.”
Glew declined to discuss what specific role his department played in the investigation, but did say it is a priority for the department to provide assistance where it can and work with its North Shore neighbors and federal partners to address crime issues.
“That is done with public safety in mind and making all out respective communities safer,” he said.
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Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.