its a little old but i thought it was interesting. The american dealers were would team up and use each others supply source when one wasnt available.

Feds charge 24 in Cleveland area in what might be largest heroin bust in state's history
Published: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 3:55 PM Updated: Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 9:44 PM
By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer


View full sizeJohn [BadWord] / The Plain Dealer
Cleveland police officer Patrick Andrejcak packs up evidence bags of heroin and related drug paraphenalia after a news conference Tuesday at Cleveland police headquarters that showcased a seizure of 20 kilograms of heroin, more than $1.8 million in cash, and the indictments of 24 people in what authorities believe to be the largest heroin seizure in state history. Steven Dettelbach, United States attorney, said, "This organization taken down this morning was responsible for much of the heroin coming into Northeast Ohio."
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Federal prosecutors believe they have scored the largest-ever heroin bust in Ohio. The network stretched into Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, where some of its product and money was kept. A ringleader lived in a $1 million home in Solon.
The two-year investigation culminated Tuesday morning with the indictment of 24 people, including a Nigerian man nicknamed Shaka Zulu who lived near Shaker Square, and the Solon resident who police believe used drug proceeds to buy that luxurious home.
The bust gives a glimpse at what police believe is a growing heroin trade in Greater Cleveland. (Read the indictment, posted by WTAM.)
"It's real huge in the suburbs now," said Cleveland police Detective Todd Clark, who along with partner John Dlugolinski, ran the investigation.
The elaborate distribution ring, which acquired heroin from Nigeria, Mexico and Colombia, stored the powdery drug in so-called stash houses that were peppered around Cleveland and two eastern suburbs.
Police seized at least 44 pounds of heroin, which they packaged in plastic evidence bags and displayed during a Tuesday news conference at Cleveland police headquarters.
They also grabbed $1.8 million in cash and a number of vehicles from the ring, including a Mercedes Benz, two BMWs, a Cadillac Escalade, a Lexus and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
According to police, one of the main suppliers of the drug ring was Christopher Ugochukwu, also known as Shaka Zulu, who lived in an apartment on Larchmere Boulevard, where he was arrested earlier this summer.

Ugochukwu supplied high-level distributors Bryant Johnson and Richard Lanier, also known as Juice.
Johnson, 48, of Solon, and Lanier, 66, of Cleveland, dealt primarily on Cleveland's East Side. They also were arrested earlier this summer.
The charges were laid out in a 138-page indictment that includes transcripts of secretly taped phone calls of conspirators talking about drug deals using various code words. Conversations referred to heroin as playoff tickets and a Cadillac. The transcripts also mention meetings around town, including the parking lot of the YMCA in downtown Cleveland and Larchmere Tavern, a popular restaurant just north of Shaker Square.
Of the 24 defendants, 16 middle- to lower-level distributors in the ring were arrested Tuesday. Six already were in custody. The whereabouts of the other two is unknown.
Local police latched on to the ring in the fall of 2008 after learning that heroin smuggled from Colombia to Miami was destined for Cleveland.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracked a sale to John Sapp, known as Wren on the street, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Baeppler said. The investigation became known as Operation Little Wren because Sapp's younger brother Christopher inherited the drug operation after John went to prison.

Handguns and a money counter are among the items seized by federal authorities.
A major investigation by the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force ensued involving the police departments of Cleveland and several suburbs, along with the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
Two Chicago-area groups of Colombian heritage supplied the Sapp brothers, Baeppler said. One of those groups also obtained drugs from a Mexican man in Chicago.
Ugochukwu had his heroin smuggled in from Nigeria, Baeppler said. She believes women would ingest the heroin before flying to various U.S. cities.
Police said they think the Sapp brothers hooked up with Lanier and Johnson and supplied each other when their sources were dry.
In April, police executed a search warrant on Christopher Sapp's apartment on West 65th Street, taking more than a pound of heroin, two guns, ammunition and a scale, before ransacking the place to make it look like a burglary.
Later that day, police recorded a phone call between Sapp and Lanier.
"Hmmm. Ugly, know what I'm saying. I don't know if you can help me out and I can work something out with you, but it's all bad," Sapp said.
Three days later, police recorded another conversation between the dealers.
Sapp said, "I really want uh get those playoff tickets, right, so I kinda thought maybe I have a way to . . . half the money up for the tickets, know what I'm saying. Hopefully by the end of the week. I'm working towards that right there" (meaning Sapp was hoping to have half the money that he owned Lanier by the end of the week, a police affidavit said.)
A pound of heroin sells for about $34,000 wholesale, but the street value is much greater.
Clark said the arrests have put a dent in the heroin business in the Cleveland area, but it won't stop it altogether.
"Somebody always picks up the business," he said.

Does it say anywhere who was the one holding the 20 keys?

I wonder if the nigerians told the mexicans and the columbians to send them 1 kilo of heroin now to cover the taxes and they would send the rest back via western union