CHICAGO (AP) — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chicago division, who has been outspoken about the growing influence of Mexican cartels in the American heartland, is leaving to take one of the agency’s top posts in Washington, D.C., a DEA official said Tuesday.
Jack Riley, 56, has been named the DEA’s new chief of operations — considered the federal agency’s No. 3 position — and will oversee all agency activities within the U.S. and internationally, Rusty Payne, a spokesman with the DEA in Washington, told The Associated Press.
In an interview at his office Tuesday, Riley said the two biggest changes in the trafficking landscape since he came to Chicago in 2010 have been the entrenchment of Mexico’s cartels in the Midwest and the resurgence of heroin, including in middle class neighborhoods.
Riley, who took part in DEA operations against heroin traffickers in the 1990s, said the narcotic has become more popular, in part, because it’s now available in an easier-to-use powder form and can be snorted rather than having to be injected with needles.
“People who never would have done heroin are doing it today, like professionals and students,” Riley said.
As the special agent in charge in Chicago, Riley has directed DEA operations in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. His previous posts included serving as head of the agency’s El Paso, Texas, office along the Mexican border.
Riley is expected to begin his new job next month. His replacement in Chicago has not been named.
