Illegal
Drugs
Illegal
drug abuse and its consequences are devastating to
our society and have been recognized as a national
security threat by the President, the Attorney General,
and the Director of Central Intelligence. While other
law enforcement organizations seek to disrupt drug-trafficking
organizations, the dismantlement of major international
and national drug-trafficking organizations is an area
of FBI expertise and core competency. Dismantlement
means the targeted organization is permanently rendered
incapable of being involved in the distribution of
drugs. At a minimum, this requires three objectives
be met: 1) the organization's leaders must be completely
incapacitated; 2) the organization's financial base
must be thoroughly destroyed; and 3) the organization's
drug-supply connection/network must be irreparably
disrupted. The FBI's approach gives the Special Agents
in Charge of each field office the flexibility to address
significant local drug problems, but they must do so
in a manner that is consistent with and contributes
to the dismantlement of national drug-trafficking organizations.
The FBI is uniquely qualified to dismantle organizations
because of the experience, training, and expertise
of its Agents, the statutory jurisdictions at its disposal,
the FBI's presence throughout the country, and its
history as a methodical and thorough investigative
agency.
DRUG-TRAFFICKING CASE: OPERATION GREENBACK
The FBI worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration and
the Internal Revenue Service to target a Dominican drug-trafficking organization
operating in western New York. Through the use of a highly placed cooperating
witness, a moneylaundering and drug related police corruption aspect
to this case developed. Multiple wiretaps were put in place and an undercover
operation was initiated. A wiretap, in conjunction with closed-circuit
television, documented four Buffalo Police Department detectives breaking
into an undercover residence for the purpose of stealing drug proceeds.
They were ultimately arrested in March 2000. The four detectives were
charged with stealing $36,000 from an undercover FBI Agent, possession
of a weapon during the commission of a felony, and civil rights violations.
After an eight-week trial, one police detective was found guilty of drug
trafficking, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit drug trafficking,
civil rights violations, and obstruction of commerce. Two other detectives
were convicted of theft of government property, while a fourth detective
was acquitted on all charges. Three of the detectives were terminated
by the Buffalo Police Department immediately following the verdict, while
the acquitted officer was suspended awaiting termination.
DRUG TRAFFICKING CASE: OPERATION X
This FBI-led investigation targeted the Jose Diogo Theriaga organization, a
transnational methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as "ecstasy," distribution
and money laundering organization operating in Miami, Florida, and overseas.
The Jose Diogo Theriaga organization sought to purchase nightclubs in Miami
as a means to distribute MDMA and launder the proceeds. OPERATION X also focused
on the illicit activities of the Julian Garcia-Herman Roif organization, a
Colombian moneylaundering organization responsible for the laundering of millions
of dollars of proceeds for drugtrafficking organizations operating in the Miami
area. The FBI employed sophisticated investigative techniques against both
organizations, including wiretap coverage of telephone and computer communications,
controlled purchases of drug evidence, and the use of an undercover operation.
OPERATION X was conducted in concert with the Drug Enforcement Administration,
the United States Customs Service, and the Dutch National Police. The FBI executed
14 search warrants, indicted and arrested 11 individuals, and seized $605,000,
as well as executing search warrants on electronic and web-based mail accounts
to gather evidence against the members of the criminal enterprise. This investigation
exposed and dismantled a previously undiscovered major transnational criminal
enterprise.