Feds: Chicago Drug Operation Preying On Duluth Area Busted

DULUTH, Minn. – A Chicago-based drug trafficking ring that’s been targeting the Duluth area has been broken up with eight members indicted by the feds, according to the United States Attorney’s Office District of Minnesota.

The announcement was made Tuesday in Duluth by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.

Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa, St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay and County Attorney Kim Maki were among those at the news conference.

The suspects’ ages range from 30 to 35.  Seven of the eight suspects are from Chicago.

The other is from Duluth. He’s 35-year-old Matthew James Erickson.

Authorities called the suspects drug traffickers of large amounts of meth and fentanyl. The suspects targeted the vulnerable, like people who were in drug treatment, according to a Duluth official.

Court documents said the drug operation began in the Twin Ports area in December 2021.

St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki said there were 663 overdoses within the county in 2023, including 61 overdose fatalities, which is a record high.

The problem is so big within the Duluth area that the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced they have hired a full-time Department of Justice prosecutor that is now located in Duluth.

The goal of the new hire is to better assist local agencies like the Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force with drug trafficking arrests, so authorities can hold more drug dealers accountable and save lives.