By Chicago Times Magazine –
January 23, 2025
Cosme Chacon, 55, a money launderer for a Chicago-based drug trafficking organization, has been sentenced to 100 months (over eight years) in federal prison. U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. handed down the sentence on Tuesday in federal court in Chicago.
Chacon pleaded guilty in 2023 to a money laundering conspiracy charge. He was one of four defendants indicted in Chicago back in 2007. The group was involved in a drug trafficking operation that transported heroin from New York, Florida, and Texas to Chicago. After the drugs were sold, Chacon laundered the proceeds through wire transfers to Colombia and other international locations.
His three co-defendants previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 16 years, 12 years, and one year in federal prison.
Chacon’s sentencing comes after a long period on the run. He was released on bond in 2009 but failed to appear for status hearings leading up to his scheduled trial. He remained a fugitive until 2022 when he was apprehended in Panama and extradited to the United States.
The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Sean Fitzgerald, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of Homeland Security Investigations, and Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian F. Williamson represented the government.
Authorities received valuable assistance in securing Chacon’s arrest and return from IRS Criminal Investigation Panama City, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
The case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF aims to identify, disrupt, and dismantle drug traffickers, money launderers, and other criminal actors who pose a threat to the United States. The task force employs a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach, leveraging the combined strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against alleged criminal networks.
