For every 11 packets of heroin street dealers are given to sell, they are required to pay for only 10. Dealers are given only small quantities of heroin at a time to sell to minimize loss in the event they are arrested. Street gangs use children, sometimes as young as 10 years old, to resupply street dealers with heroin. The heroin and money are usually kept separate. The West Side of Chicago is the primary section of the city for open-air heroin sales.
White heroin is most prevalent.
African-American gangs control nearly all of the retail distribution. The heroin market on the West Side is made up of well-established turfs, the boundaries of which act as buffer zones separating the sellers. To Top To Contents Dealers on the West Side are located near the interstates to supply suburban heroin users going to or from work. For example, some areas close to the Eisenhower Expressway are prime heroin locations where street sales take place all day long. Some users purchase heroin in the morning on their way to work, some buy at lunchtime, and others throughout the day and into the night.