OAK LAWN, IL — A man from Oak Lawn who was said to be a registered confidential source for the Department of Homeland Security was given a 13-year prison term on July 2 in federal court. The feds say that Gary Howard, 48, had a shady connection with a federal agent while he was selling cocaine.
A confidential source pretending to be a seller called Howard’s partner, named “Individual A” in the federal criminal charge, in May 2018 to talk about a possible drug buy. This was done at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
DEA officers were able to record the confidential source’s phone call with Individual A on May 15, 2028.
The anonymous source said, “I’m ready, I got the 20 ladies,” which meant 20 kilograms of cocaine.
When Person A asked to see the cocaine, DEA agents used the confidential source’s phone to take pictures of the bricks and the newspaper of the day. They then sent the pictures to the confidential source’s phone via WhatsApp.
Federal documents from June 25, 2018, show that Individual A had another talk with the anonymous source. During this conversation, Individual A is said to have told the anonymous source that he was buying cocaine for “my pastor,” who was the person for whom Individual A was buying cocaine. He meant Howard when he said, “I can send my pastor to see you.”
The lawsuit said that Howard, Individual A, and the anonymous source met at a furniture store near 81st Street and Cicero Avenue in Chicago on July 2, 2018, to pay for cocaine.
The anonymous person asked Person A, “Are you ready to go buy some Coke?”
“Yes.”
Around 1:00 p.m. on July 2, 2018, the confidential source, wearing a wire, went into the furniture store with Individual A, Howard, and someone else named in the lawsuit as “Individual B.” They were all being watched.
Agents watched Howard leave the store and drive to an apartment building, where he met a woman who they did not know for a short time. The report said that People A and B, along with the anonymous source, stayed in the store during this time.
Agents said they saw Howard drive the Audi into a garage at his home on 87th Place in Oak Lawn around 2 p.m.
After 30 minutes, Howard drove back to the furniture shop. Federal officials said that Howard, Individual A, and the anonymous source met there in Howard’s Audi. Howard was behind the wheel and had a backpack on his lap. Person B did not get in the car.
On the tape, the anonymous source could be heard saying, “Here are the papers (money).”
Howard said that the drugs he wanted cost him only $100,000. He said he could get an extra $140,000 for five more kilograms, for a total of ten.
Howard could also be heard on the tape saying, “I mean, I haven’t seen anything, you know what I mean? I’m skeptical…” This is why I planned to bring my boyfriend, Person A.
The secret source said, “It’s not far… not far from here…”
Howard was going to buy cocaine, so they decided to let him see it by opening each kilo in exchange for his money.
“If you like it, pay me…” Real money is the only thing I want to see.
Howard said, “Okay, okay.”
Soon after, DEA agents came up to the Audi and arrested Howard and Person A. Also found in the car was a backpack with $133,055 in cash. According to court papers, Person B was caught inside the furniture store.
Howard was taken to a nearby police station to be processed. Agents say that Howard told them on the way over that he had done a lot of multi-kilogram cocaine deals with Individual A. Howard had given Individual A a nickname linked to the nationality of his partner. The last one was a five-kilogram Coke deal in June 2018. Howard is said to have said that he bought each kilo for about $28,000 and then sold them for $32,000 each.
Police were also allowed to search his home with his permission. Howard told the police that they would find a Sig Sauer P250 9m gun and $8,000 in cash that wasn’t from selling drugs. There was also what looked like a drug ledger in another paper that was found.
Along with the $8,000 and a loaded gun, police found $106,108 in cash at Howard’s house, according to the lawsuit.
Agents also said they found cell phones with chat logs and Whats App talks with Person A from June 24 to July 2, 2018. A second piece of paper that looked like a drug journal was also discovered.
Howard was a registered confidential informant for Homeland Security Investigations at the time of the failed drug deal in July 2018. Special Agent Anthony Sabaini was in charge of him. The government says Howard and Sabaini had a dishonest relationship where Howard gave Sabaini $50,000 in return for private police information and safety from the police.
Sabaini, 41, of Naperville, was found guilty in May 2023 of lying on his tax returns and taking bribes in the DHS area of responsibility. Federal records show that Sabaini stole money from the HSI and drug sellers during this time to pay for investigations.
According to the police, Sabaini was working at the DHS office in Oakbrook Terrace in the department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) when he told a confidential source, who was later named Howard, about several government investigations. Sabaini was thought to have helped Howard in exchange for $50,000.
In October 2023, Sabaini was given a six-year sentence in a federal jail.
Howard was found guilty by a federal jury last year of drug plot and attempted drug possession. Howard was given 13 years in federal jail by U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger on July 2.
Before Howard was sentenced, a woman who said she was Howard’s wife wrote a letter to Judge Seeger on his behalf. Howard is an HVAC technician, and she said that he is “honest, kind, and respectful,” and that he “has a big heart for his family and close friends.”
She said that their family had been living a normal, stress-free life since Sabaini left them in 2018 while her husband waited for his trial. “Informant gone rogue” was the “story line” she told the judge in her letter. She said that it took them both off guard when they met with federal prosecutors Jonathan Shih and Jared Hasten after the pandemic.
FBI agents told her husband to talk to them after the pandemic because “we know he shouldn’t be in this position.” She went with Howard to the meeting because she thought they knew he was innocent and were ready to drop the charges against him. But when they met with federal officials, they asked which other dishonest agents were working with Sabaini and his partner, Fernando Zambrano, who was found guilty of lying to the government in a probe in 2021.
The lawyers are said to have said, “This would be such a “Big W” for us.” At first, she said, the lawyers were understanding, but over time, they became more hostile.
“Right away, we realized the conversation wasn’t about Gary’s innocence; it was about them getting information that would help them advance in their careers while forcing him to plead guilty,” the woman wrote. “The plot of a “informant gone rogue” was never brought up in any of our many meetings with these prosecutors, but I guess that was the hot topic at their roundtables that got the guilty verdicts.”
