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Fighting Gang Violence


While preventing terrorist attacks remains the FBI’s top priority, our resources dedicated to violent crime are focused on the most acute problems threatening our society and complex multi-jurisdictional investigations where we can offer special capabilities. Since 2001, the FBI has increased its focus on violent gangs.

 Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative

  • As of December 2008, the FBI operates 199 Safe Streets Task Forces (SSTFs) in 56 field offices.
  • SSTFs are comprised of more than 2,000 local, state, and federal investigators representing 642 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.
  • Of these task forces, 152 are focused on violent gangs.

Violent Gang Safe Street Task Force Accomplishments

Year

Complaints

Indictments & Informations

Arrests

Convictions

2001

1,143

2,181

3,999

2,168

2002

1,024

1,951

3,512

1,964

2003

826

1,971

3,837

1,698

2004

980

2,183

4,162

1,773

2005

1,191

2,540

4,745

1,700

2006

1,421

2,695

5,537

2,199

2007

1,295

3,256

7,256

2,325

2008

633

2,163

2,385

1,427

Totals

8,513

18,940

35,433

15,254

 

Year

Disruptions

Dismantlements

RICO Indictments

Other Racketeering Statute Indictments

2001

108

42

37

63

2002

149

41

24

167

2003

166

46

151

99

2004

299

40

35

36

2005

483

65

33

51

2006

509

67

64

94

2007

685

106

12

126

2008

716

59

37

162

Totals

3,115

466

393

798

 

National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC)

  • We developed the NGIC in 2005 to provide a mechanism for local, state, and federal law enforcement to share gang data across jurisdictions and to identify trends related to violent gang activity and migration.

MS-13 National Gang Task Force

  • We established the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in 2004 to coordinate the investigative efforts of federal, state, and local agencies against MS-13 gang targets. MS-13 members and associates have been identified in 42 states and have a significant presence in Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
  • The task force has instituted the Central American Fingerprint Exploitation (CAFÉ) initiative to acquire criminal fingerprints from the Central American region and to merge those fingerprints and associated criminal records into our Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) database.

    Total fingerprints received (Central America and Chiapas, Mexico): 74,404
    Total hits to U.S. records: 11,964
    Total hits on subjects with U.S. warrants (included in above total): 216

 

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