The Nation - News from May 26, 1988

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents and police in Chicago seized 247 pounds of Mexican brown heroin valued at $100 million, believed to be the largest amount of that type of the drug ever confiscated in the United States, officials said. The brown heroin was seized along with 126 pounds of cocaine, $147,000 in cash and four handguns in two raids on Chicago’s West Side, U.S. Atty. Anton Valukas said. The operation resulted in the arrest of Aureliano Galindo Vasquez, 34, of Canoga Park, Calif., who was charged with possession with intent to distribute the drugs. Valukas did not give a street value of the cocaine. “It’s the largest such seizure in U.S. history,” he said.