The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Celebrates 40th Anniversary

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information this past Tuesday:

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) was created by Presidential Order four decades ago. On Oct. 14, 1982, in the Great Hall of the Department of Justice building, President Ronald Reagan announced a new coordinated federal government effort bringing together prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to attack the command and control elements of the drug trafficking organizations responsible for moving massive quantities of illicit narcotics into the country.

The White House directed that the OCDETF’s top priority would be to disrupt the sales and distribution networks of the traffickers. Some of the department’s most notable successes against drug cartels have resulted from OCDETF coordinated investigations and prosecutions. OCDETF was instrumental in taking down the powerful Colombian cartels of the 1980s; the notorious and violent Mexican cartels such as the Tijuana, Juarez and Gulf Cartels in the 1990s; and the methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and opioid threats from all over the world in the last two decades.        

As criminal networks have grown more sophisticated in the last 40 years — branching out to more varied types of criminal activity — OCDETF has responded by expanding its mission beyond drug trafficking organizations and money laundering networks to all forms of transnational organized crime. OCDETF is fully engaged in all manner of investigations into criminal networks involved in human smuggling, sophisticated financial fraud, cyber-enabled crime, illicit finance, arms trafficking, government benefits theft, business e-mail compromise and U.S. sanctions evasion. OCDETF is uniquely and ideally structured to support the fight against transnational organized crime through operational integration, collaboration and law enforcement information sharing.

“Since its founding, OCDETF has been a synchronizer and our role is to incentivize prosecutors to lead smart, creative law enforcement agents in investigations focused on priority targets of organized criminal groups and the illicit financial networks that support them,” said OCDETF Director Adam W. Cohen. “Today, OCDETF provides a forward leaning structure for our partners to work together and leverage each other’s strengths, capabilities and legal authorities resulting in continued positive impacts to the nation.”

OCDETF’s successes over the last 40 years have been made possible by strong collaboration and coordination with its member agencies. OCDETF is partnered with the 93 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the department’s Criminal Division and 11 federal law enforcement agencies from the Department of Justice (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Marshals Service), Homeland Security (Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Secret Service), Treasury (Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigation), Postal (U.S. Postal Inspection Service), Labor (Office of the Inspector General), and State (Bureau of Diplomatic Security).

OCDETF’s governance, bringing leadership to the multi-agency transnational organized crime mission and focus on joint priority targets has generated genuine measurable accomplishments — over 34,000 multi-agency cases against priority targets, over 124,000 indictments of almost 360,000 defendants, and incredibly, over 15,690 of those resulted in impactful disruption, or even dismantlement of criminal organizations.     

“As OCDETF begins our 41st year, we will continue to provide a coordination platform for comprehensive investigations and prosecutions of the most dangerous transnational criminal organizations, the successful result of which is to make our nation safer,” said OCDETF Director Cohen. 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Gives Key Department Of Justice Task Force New Tools To Dismantle MS-13

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

Taking another step toward fulfilling President Trump’s goal of stamping out the brutal transnational criminal organization MS-13, Attorney General Jeff Sessions today formally designated the gang as a priority for the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (“OCDETF”).

Addressing the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Attorney General explained that the formal priority designation of MS-13 allows OCDETF to utilize an expanded toolkit in its efforts to dismantle the organization. This means that OCDETF should look to all laws in its investigative and prosecutorial efforts, including drug laws, gun laws, tax laws, RICO, and anything else that will cripple the gang. In his speech, the Attorney General said:

“But this work is not finished.  I am announcing today that I have designated MS-13 as a priority for our Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces.  These task forces bring together a broad coalition of our federal prosecutors, DEA, FBI, ATF, ICE, HSI, the IRS, the Department of Labor Inspector General, the Postal Service Inspectors, the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the Coast Guard.  And they all have one mission: to go after drug criminals and traffickers at the highest levels.

"Now they will go after MS-13 with a renewed vigor and a sharpened focus.  I am announcing that I have authorized them to use every lawful tool to investigate MS-13—not just our drug laws, but everything from RICO to our tax laws to our firearms laws.  Just like we took Al Capone off the streets with our tax laws, we will use whatever laws we have to get MS-13 off of our streets.”

Note: I wrote a piece on MS-13 for Counterterrorism magazine. I’ll post it here when it comes out.

FBI On Operation Delta Crossroads: Arkansas Drug Trafficking Enterprise Dismantled, Leader Gets 20 Years In Prison After Multi-Agency Investigation

The FBI released the below report:

Several years ago, in the city of West Memphis in eastern Arkansas, violent street gangs involved in drug trafficking and other crimes threatened the safety and security of the people who lived and worked in the area. One of the most significant gangs was headed by drug kingpin Rafael McDaniel.

After a request for federal assistance from the West Memphis Police Department to help address the drug trafficking activity and its accompanying violence, the FBI initiated Operation Delta Crossroads as an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case. And as a result of the investigation—which involved multiple controlled drug buys and several Title III wiretaps that recorded hundreds incriminating conversations—McDaniel was convicted of drug and firearms offenses last year and subsequently sentenced to a 20-year prison term. Several of his co-conspirators were also charged, pled guilty, and sentenced.

The OCDETF program, established in 1982, is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s drug strategy to reduce the availability of drugs by identifying, disrupting, and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations and related criminal enterprises. OCDETF investigations succeed because they leverage the strengths, resources, and expertise of federal, state, and local investigators and prosecutors.

During the investigation into McDaniel’s gang, agents from our Little Rock Field Office worked side-by-side with several narcotics detectives from the West Memphis Police Department. With the assistance of the Arkansas State Police—and in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas—investigators identified and gathered evidence on McDaniel’s West Memphis-based drug trafficking organization, which was believed to be responsible for the distribution of large quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine in Crittenden County and other areas of eastern Arkansas.

We knew that McDaniel had two lieutenants—Wendell Glenn and David Green—who helped him run the operation. We knew that the organization regularly obtained multi-ounce quantities of cocaine from suppliers. We knew that McDaniel, Glenn, Green, and others actually converted the cocaine into crack cocaine before giving it to other organization members responsible for the sale of the drugs. And we knew that members of the criminal enterprise, including McDaniel, possessed and used firearms for the purpose of protecting their drugs and drug proceeds and to intimidate and deter rival drug dealers.

The Little Rock FBI case agent recalled an instance of overhearing talk on a wiretap between Wendell Glenn and a criminal associate who was physically tailing a rival drug dealer. The associate offered to shoot the dealer, but Glenn said he wanted to do it himself. “But,” said the agent, “the shooting didn’t happen because we sent marked units to flood the area.”

A July 2014 superseding indictment charged McDaniel, Glenn, Green, and 15 other conspirators with various drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Sixteen defendants, including Glenn and Green, eventually entered guilty pleas and were sentenced in the face of such overwhelming evidence (charges against a 17th defendant were combined with another federal indictment). But McDaniel, perhaps thinking he was smart enough to beat the system, took a chance on a trial—and lost.

Law enforcement collaboration in eastern Arkansas is nothing new—in February 2015, the leader of another drug trafficking organization was sentenced to life in prison after the successful conclusion of another OCDETF case, Operation Delta Blues, which targeted public corruption, drug trafficking, and unlawful firearms. And in August 2015, 70 defendants were charged with drug and gun offenses in 40 separate indictments as part of an OCDETF case known as Operation Blynd Justus.

According to the Delta Crossroads case agent, “The task force made the case. It would not have happened without both agencies [West Memphis Police Department and FBI] working closely together.”

And today, communities in eastern Arkansas are enjoying dramatic decreases in violent crimes being committed on their streets as a result of these kinds of law enforcement collaborations.

United States and Colombian Law Enforcement Authorities Execute Simultaneous Arrests In Puerto Rico, Florida And Colombia Dismantling International Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering Organization

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

This morning, U.S. federal agents in coordination with Colombian law enforcement authorities simultaneously executed arrest warrants in Puerto Rico, Florida and Colombia, dismantling an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization responsible for the importation of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into the United States and the laundering of millions of dollars in drug proceeds, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico announced today.

Last month, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a 23-count indictment charging 29 individuals with numerous violations to federal narcotics and money laundering laws.  The charges include conspiracy to import controlled substances, conspiracy to possess controlled substances, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and substantive counts of money laundering and international money laundering.  The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation for the proceeds obtained as a result of the organization’s illegal activities.

The individuals named in the indictment are Carlos A. Segura-Galvis, Adolfo León García-Sierra, Jair Eudoro Ramírez-Díaz, Roque Caballero-Caballero, Hugo Ocampo-Gutierrez, Mireya Cabra-Traslaviña, Elkin Meléndez-Santiago, Gamalier González-Maldonado, Giovanni Cosme-Fernández, Eduardo Esteras-Rosado, José O. Medina-Nery, Hugo Enrique Romero-Vargas, Edison Miranda-Angulo, Noe Carbajal, Felipe Francisco De La Plaza, Edwin Lozada-Flores, Miguel Vargas-Roa, Ricardo Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Jorge Villarran-Romero, Francisco Otero-Retamar, Miguel A. Lebrón-Hernández, Eldin Meléndez-Santiago, Ángel M. Sierra-Rivera, Bergman Santiago-Contes, José Martínez-Meléndez, Flor Marina González-Rojas, Geovanny Mosquera-Vanegas, Yurgen Gabriel Álvarez-Gutierrez and Brian Montalvo-Tolentino.

Nine of the 29 defendants, Adolfo León García-Sierra, Jair Eudoro Ramírez-Díaz, Roque Caballero-Caballero, Hugo Ocampo-Gutierrez, Mireya Cabra-Traslaviña, Hugo Enrique Romero-Vargas, Flor Marina González-Rojas, Geovanny Mosquera-Vanegas and Yurgen Gabriel Álvarez-Gutierrez, will be extradited from Colombia to stand trial in the District of Puerto Rico.

The investigation leading to today’s arrests uncovered that from November 2010 through September 2012, members of this drug smuggling and money laundering organization operating in Colombia were sending kilogram quantities of cocaine to Puerto Rico using go-fast vessels.  Members of the organization in Colombia and Puerto Rico would coordinate the maritime transportation in the following way: the vessels would depart from the northern part of Venezuela and would meet other vessels departing from Puerto Rico to receive the drugs at a pre-arranged point, approximately 100 nautical miles south of Puerto Rico.  On some occasions, the vessels coming from Venezuela would travel directly to the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, to deliver the drugs to individuals that were waiting for the drugs at shore.  The drugs would be briefly stored in Vieques until the same was transported into the main island of Puerto Rico through the Fajardo-Vieques ferry. On some occasions the organization also used cargo containers and other type of vessels to smuggle cocaine and heroin into Puerto Rico.

It was also part of the modus operandi of this organization to require that members of the organization in Puerto Rico would travel to Venezuela and other places and remain there during the drug smuggling ventures to act as a personal guarantee, also known as “fiscales,” for the payment of the controlled substances smuggled into Puerto Rico.    

Once the drugs were smuggled into Puerto Rico, members of the organization operating in the Barrio Obrero ward of Santurce and other parts of the San Juan, Puerto Rico, metropolitan area would receive the drugs and distribute it in Puerto Rico for financial gain.  A portion of the drugs would be further transported to New York for further distribution and additional financial gain.  Once the drugs were distributed, members of the organization would reap the profits from the sale of the controlled substances and would wait for instructions from Colombia on how to send the proceeds of their illegal drug trafficking business back to Colombia.

The organization would repatriate their illegal proceeds through wire transfers to banking institutions in Panama and China, Western Union transfers to individuals in Colombia and Peru and by the use of couriers traveling to Puerto Rico from Colombia, Venezuela and/or Florida to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in bulk cash.

The investigation also revealed that the organization used threats, intimidation and acts of violence, including kidnappings, to collect debts for the controlled substances smuggled into Puerto Rico.
Today’s arrests are the result of a long-term investigation led by special agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in San Juan as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

“These arrests are a clear indication of the success of the OCDETF program in the fight against drug trafficking,” said U.S. Attorney Rodríguez-Vélez.  “Today’s arrests dismantle an organization that coordinated not only the traffic of drugs within Colombia and the United States, but also the movement of drug money, which is essential to the success of these illegal activities.  Among the individuals to be extradited from Colombia are drug owners, a maritime transportation coordinator, a money broker and enforcers for the drug trafficking organization.  Two of the individuals named in this indictment have been listed as regional priority targets of the OCDETF program and are now behind bars facing long terms of imprisonment.  We will continue maximizing our multi-agency efforts and will combine resources to investigate and prosecute those who disregard our laws and try to smuggle drugs into our jurisdiction.”

“This case exemplifies that those involved in the distribution of narcotics and other contraband will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted,” said Special Agent in Charge Ángel M. Meléndez of HSI San Juan.  “Drug trafficking organizations must be aggressively attacked and dismantled at every level - from the street dealer to the international supplier and drug lord.  Through the coordinated efforts of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we have effectively eradicated an organization responsible for bringing significant quantities of drugs into our communities.”

The defendants are facing terms of imprisonment from 10 years to life for the narcotics violations and up to 20 years for the money laundering violations.  Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlos R. Cardona for the District of Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the office of the Judicial Attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, HSI special agents in Bogota, Colombia, and Colombian law enforcement authorities for their assistance and support provided in this case.