Republicans like to paint Democrats as easy on crime, but the FBI has made record numbers of arrests this summer. As the GOP struggles with weak candidates and the cost of gas is going down, the crime narrative can be easily rebutted.
FBI Director Christopher Wray announced today in a video message the results of joint violent crime enforcement efforts throughout the summer, acknowledging the essential cooperation of the state and local law enforcement agencies around the nation. Read: Democrats tougher on crime
Between May 1 and September. 2, 2022 between May 1 and Sept. 2, 2022, the FBI as well as state and local law enforcement agencies arrested nearly 6,000 alleged violent criminals and gang members and seized more than 2,700 firearms connected to criminal activities. In the summer the FBI and its partners stopped nearly 845 and destroyed the 105 violent gangs and criminal enterprises and seized large quantities of fentanyl and other deadly narcotics.
“Keeping our communities and nation secure is the Justice Department’s priority every day. In the first quarter of this year, we increased our efforts across the department to fight violent crime, for example by giving each of the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices to develop and implement district-specific violence reduction strategies,” the Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Together with our law enforcement partners across the country, we will continue to do everything we can to protect our communities from violent crime.”
“I believe the FBI’s most sacred duty is to ensure people can live free from fear in their own homes and neighborhoods,” said Director Wray. “To that end, we dedicate agents, analysts, and technical resources across the country to work with state and local law enforcement on these operations.”
These joint criminal justice enforcement efforts led to FBI operations occurring in many communities across the nation, including in New Mexico, California, Texas, Illinois, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania as well as Washington, D.C., as listed below:
The FBI Albuquerque Violent Gang Task Force executed 16 federal search warrants aimed at violent street and prison gangs. More than a dozen federal local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and SWAT teams seized more than a million Fentanyl pills, 142 lbs of methamphetamine, 37 firearms nine ballistic vests two hand grenades, as well as $1.8 million in cash.
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Gangs arrested 28 members and associates of the South Los Angeles-based Eastside Playboys street gang for the alleged racketeering in federal law, weapons, and narcotics charges. The task force seized around 47 firearms, more than 200 kilograms methamphetamine, 27 kilograms of cocaine and greater than 13 kilograms of Fentanyl, as well as more than 7 kilograms of heroin.
In Houston, 10 MS-13 gang members were federally indictedfor racketeering conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder to aid racketeering, as well as related firearms charges, as well as obstruction of justice. The seven murders alleged in the indictment were particularly brutal, using mutilation and dismemberment with machetes and also included the murder of a juvenile female and a police informant.
As part of the FBI’s efforts in a multi-agency coordinated effort targeting the South Lake Tahoe area, seven defendants were charged with conspiring to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine and heroin. Separately, four subjects were indicted for trafficking methamphetamine as well as firearms, including an AR-15 style shotgun, a rifle and several handguns, some of which were “ghost” guns, lacking serial numbers.
In Chicago, three individuals were arrested in two separate violent carjackings. In both instances, the defendants allegedly brandished a semiautomatic handgun and in one instance the case, they also employed a semiautomatic rifle. A third defendant was also charged in an additional carjacking in downtown Chicago that also involved the use of a firearm.
From the FBI San Antonio’s Waco Resident Agency, a federal grand jury charged 27 defendants for their involvement in a Texas-based drug trafficking group operating methamphetamine distribution rings which led to several arrests.
An investigation by the federal government into the activities of a Hawaiian criminal enterprise led to three subjects being arrested for alleged involvement in the drug trafficking business of methamphetamine and cocaine, operating a shady gambling business, as well as firearms possession. The criminal enterprise operated across the Hawaiian Islands.
41 violent gang members of Puerto Rico were arrested on drug trafficking and firearms charges. The criminal organization is believed to have distributed heroin, cocaine, marijuana, Oxycodone, Xanax, and other drugs across Puerto Rico.
The Washington Field Office of the FBI’s Cross Border Safe Streets Task Force found eight firearms as well as significant quantities of Fentanyl and crack cocaine stemming from searches related to their investigation. Ten defendants were detained for suspecting of conspiring to distribute cocaine and Fentanyl all over the D.C. area.
25 people were arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with an illegal drug trafficking ring. The suspects were accused of being part of a massive drug distribution conspiracy which went beyond state borders into Florida, Puerto Rico, and Arizona.
Similar to the ones listed here Similar to the ones listed here, the FBI along with our law enforcement partners conducted various operations in other cities across the United States which included Cleveland, Buffalo, New Haven, Charlotte, Springfield, and more and will continue these efforts to combat violent crime to ensure that our communities are safe for everyone.
Comments are closed.