Feds: Waterworks housed drug ring

CHICAGO -- Federal prosecutors charged Wednesday that the Chicago branch of a Colombian heroin trafficking organization operated inside the city water department, already awash in allegations that trucking companies received department business in exchange for payoffs.\nEight individuals were arrested Wednesday morning in Chicago and one in New York on charges involving an alleged conspiracy to distribute sizable quantities of heroin on the city streets.\nAmong those charged was Gerald A. Prado, a hoisting engineer for the city's water department and the leader of the distribution cell, according to federal prosecutors.\nAlso charged were Prado's brother-in-law, Anthony C. Ritacco, and Michael D. Hart, both identified by federal officials as low-level employees in the city water department.\nChicago's water department has been the focus of a scandal involving the $38 million Hired Truck Program, under which the city outsources hauling jobs to private trucking companies.\nDonald Tomczak, the former deputy commissioner of the water department, is charged along with a number of aides and trucking company officials with a scheme under which bribes and campaign contributions were exchanged for work within the no-bids Hired Truck Program.\nTomczak, who was in day-to-day charge of the department, is not alleged to have had any involvement in the drug-trafficking ring.\nFederal officials said an unnamed 'Individual A' who was a water department employee had cooperated in the investigation and provided key information that led to the fresh charges.\nFederal officials said that on March 10, about 100 grams of heroin were seized when Individual A tried to sell it to another cooperating witness.\nIf convicted, each individual faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life as well as a $4 million fine, federal officials said.