A former narcotics officer and Chicago police sergeant was apprehended on Tuesday (September 19), following 15 years of life on the run from charges related to a 2001 sting that nailed him for overseeing a drug extortion operation in the Windy City.
Eddie Hicks, 68, has had a warrant out for his arrest since June 9, 2003, when he failed to return to court after posting up an apartment building he owned in order to secure a $150,000 bond from jail. Hicks had up until that point been fighting a RICO case that began with a 2000 investigation into his role among a crew of rogue cops who were robbing dealers and then re-selling the product throughout the 1990's. With other members of the badge-wearing shakedown clique implicating Hicks as the man who facilitated the taking of cash, guns, and narcotics via fraudulent search warrants and staged traffic-stops, Hicks would respond to the amount of time he knew he'd face behind bars by assuming a life of clandestinity in Detroit.
Upon appearing before a U.S. District Court judge within hours of his capture, Hicks waived his right to argue his identity. He is the last of four officers believed to have been involved in the operation, to meet his fate at the hands of the criminal justice system. Each of his three co-defendants in the trial would plead guilty of the charges weighed against them.
Source: nydailynews.com
