Couple arrested for selling $3 million worth of cocaine
February 8, 1988
CHICAGO (AP)—A “mom-and-pop” team who ran drugs from Florida is in custody after selling $3 million worth of cocaine to authorities in the largest local bust in memory from a “hand-to-hand” cocaine buy, authorities said Sunday.
“If you had to paint a picture of a typical grandmother and grandfather, these are the people you would paint,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Edward Pietrucha in a telephone interview.
George Sloss, 57, and his wife, Goldie, 55, of Tavernier, Fla., were arrested Saturday evening after an undercover sale of 22 pounds of cocaine for $236,000. The street value of the cocaine is $3 million, Pietrucha said.
The couple was delivering the cocaine for Isis Alvarez Pino, 33, of Miami, who also was arrested Saturday in connection with the bust, he said.
Pietrucha said he and State Police investigators believe “this is the largest bust of a hand-to-hand buy in Cook County.”
Pino is suspected of supplying in excess of 220 pounds to the Chicago area on an annual basis, said Pietrucha.
“She is probably doing as well in some other Midwestern cities,” said Pietrucha. The Florida woman, who has been sending cocaine to several cities in the region for about eight years, was in custody in Dade County Jail in Miami, he said.
The Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation headed the bust, with help from the state’s attorney’s office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.