The results of coordinated efforts to combat violent crime during the summer were revealed today in a video message from FBI Director Christopher Wray, who acknowledged the crucial collaboration between local and state law enforcement agencies around the nation.
The FBI and local and state law enforcement partners detained more than 2,700 weapons linked to criminal activity while apprehending close to 6,000 accused violent offenders and gang members between May 1 and September 2, 2022.
The FBI and its allies also eliminated 105 dangerous gangs and criminal organisations over the course of the summer, disrupted roughly 845 others, and confiscated substantial amounts of fentanyl and other lethal drugs.
The Justice Department’s first responsibility is to keep our neighbourhoods and our nation safe every single day.
We furthered our department’s efforts to reduce violent crime at the start of this year, including by instructing all 94 U.S. District-specific violent crime reduction programmes will be developed and implemented by attorneys’ offices, according to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
“We will continue to take every precaution to safeguard our communities from violent crime, working with our law enforcement partners around the nation,” the statement said.
Director Wray said, “I think the FBI’s most important obligation is to make sure people can live free from terror in their own homes and communities. We commit agents, analysts, and technological resources nationwide to these operations, working with state and local law enforcement as needed.
As a consequence of these coordinated initiatives to combat violent crime, FBI operations took place in several towns around the nation, including New Mexico, California, Texas, Illinois, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., as shown below:
16 federal search warrants targeting violent street and prison gangs were carried out by the FBI Albuquerque Violent Gang Task Force.
One million fentanyl tablets, 142 pounds of methamphetamine, 37 weapons, nine bulletproof vests, two hand grenades, and $1.8 million in cash were recovered by more than a dozen federal, state, local, and SWAT units.
For suspected federal racketeering, gun, and drug offences, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Gangs detained 28 members and associates of the South Los Angeles-based Eastside Playboys street gang.
About 47 weapons, over 200 kilos of methamphetamine, 27 kilogrammes of cocaine, more than 13 kilogrammes of fentanyl, and more than seven kilogrammes of heroin were all confiscated by the task team.
Federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to kill in aid of racketeering, related weapons offences, and obstruction of justice were brought against 10 MS-13 gang members in Houston.
The seven killings included in the indictment included the death of a police informant and a young female victim, and were particularly horrific, allegedly including machete mutilation and dismemberment.
Seven individuals were charged with conspiracy to distribute and distribute methamphetamine and heroin as part of the FBI Sacramento’s involvement in a multi-agency coordinated operation targeting the South Lake Tahoe region.
Four people were charged separately with trafficking methamphetamine and weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle, a shotgun, and numerous pistols, some of which were “ghost” weapons without serial numbers.
Three people were accused in Chicago for two separate brutal carjackings.
The defendants are accused of using semiautomatic handguns in both cases, as well as a semiautomatic rifle in one of them. In a different carjacking that also included the use of a gun in downtown Chicago, another defendant was accused.
A federal grand jury indicted 27 defendants from the Waco Resident Agency of the FBI in San Antonio for their alleged participation in a Texas-based narcotics ring that maintained a methamphetamine distribution network, which resulted in several arrests.
Three people were detained as a consequence of a federal investigation into a criminal organisation operating in Hawaii.
They were suspected of being involved in the trafficking of methamphetamine and cocaine, running an illegal gambling operation, and possessing guns. The criminal organisation was active on all of the Hawaiian Islands.
Puerto Rican violent gang members totaling 41 were detained on allegations of drug trafficking and possessing guns.
In Puerto Rico, the criminal gang is accused of distributing heroin, cocaine, marijuana, Oxycodone, Xanax, and other substances.
Through searches linked to their investigation, the Cross Border Safe Streets Task Force of the FBI’s Washington Field Office found eight weapons as well as significant amounts of crack cocaine and fentanyl.
Ten defendants were detained on suspicion of planning to distribute cocaine and fentanyl in the Washington, D.C. area.
In Pennsylvania, 25 individuals were detained for allegedly conducting a narcotics trafficking organisation.
The suspects are accused of participating in a massive drug trafficking plot that reached into Florida, Puerto Rico, and Arizona over state boundaries.
In many other cities across the country, including Cleveland, Buffalo, New Haven, Charlotte, Springfield, and more, the FBI and our law enforcement partners conducted numerous operations similar to those listed here.
We will keep up these efforts against violent crime to help keep our communities safe for everyone.