Organized
Crime
The
FBI's fight against organized crime is unlike other
criminal programs. Instead of focusing on individual
crimes, the FBI's Organized Crime Program targets the
entire organization responsible for a variety of criminal
activities. The FBI has found that even if key individuals
in an organization are removed, the depth and financial
strength of the organization often allows the enterprise
to continue.
The
FBI focuses its efforts on structured criminal groups
that pose the greatest threat to American society.
These criminal enterprises include traditional, well-entrenched
organizations such as La Cosa Nostra and Italian Organized
Crime, Russian/Eurasian Organized Crime, Nigerian Criminal
Enterprises, and Asian Criminal Enterprises. Additionally,
because many organized crime groups are drawn to the
lucrative profits associated with drug trafficking,
the FBI also focuses investigations on the Cali, Medellin,
and North Coast Colombian drug cartels, Mexican Drug-Trafficking
Organizations, and organizations based in the United
States.
The dismantling or disruption of major international and national organized
criminal enterprises is an area of FBI expertise. The FBI is uniquely qualified
to dismantle organizations because of the experience, training and expertise
of its Agents, the FBI's presence throughout the country, and its history as
a methodical and thorough investigative agency. The FBI's mission is accomplished
through sustained, coordinated investigations and the use of the criminal and
civil provisions of the RICO statute.
ORGANIZED CRIME CASE: LA COSA NOSTRA (LCN)
In the early 1990s, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, the Boss of New York's Genovese
LCN, was indicted and arrested as a result of the FBI's investigation of LCN
infiltration of New York City's construction industry. Gigante was charged
with ordering six murders - including that of Gambino LCN Boss John Gotti -
and conspiring in three others; he was also charged with labor racketeering
and extortion. Feigning mental illness, Gigante had his trial postponed twice,
but in June 1997, after being ruled mentally competent, his trial began. Gigante
was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. As a result of this investigation,
20 other LCN members were convicted and $4 million in illegally obtained LCN
assets were forfeited.
DRUG TRAFFICKING CASE: OPERATION RESURRECTION
 |
| The
FBI Laboratory creates crime scene models,
like this one of a gang-related shooting, for
use in court. |
The
FBI conducted an undercover operation targeting the
drug-trafficking and money-laundering activities of
the Colombia-based Diego Montoya-Sanchez organization.
This investigation revealed that the Montoya-Sanchez
drug-trafficking organization shipped cocaine via Ecuador
to Mexico, where it was off-loaded onto trucks for
land shipment to Florida, New York, and Montreal, Canada.
The FBI used sources at the highest levels within Colombia
and successfully engaged high-ranking members of the
Montoya-Sanchez drug trafficking organization in a
conspiracy to ship 2,000 kilograms of cocaine to the
United States from Colombia. The FBI worked with Colombian
law enforcement in efforts to locate and arrest Montoya-Sanchez.
This investigation served as a case study in international
and interagency cooperation. The FBI and Colombian
law enforcement worked seamlessly to conduct a highly
complex and broad-ranging international investigation
which, with the indictment of Montoya-Sanchez, significantly
impaired and disrupted the ability of a highly effective
transnational criminal enterprise to operate within
the United States and Colombia. The increased coordination
with foreign law enforcement agencies and entities
ensured the operation's ultimate success.
