Good afternoon. It's great to be here. It is always refreshing to visit Los
Angeles. I am reminded of how they characterize cities: in Boston, the
first thing people ask you is who your family is. In New York, how high
your rent is. In Washington, what your job is. And in Los Angeles, who
your agent is.
I have one of the better answers to that question. The FBI has over 12,000
agents worldwide and over 700 in Los Angeles. They work hard to protect
all of us. And they do an outstanding job.
As you know, our highest priority over the past five and a half years
has been defending America from terrorism. From the Millennium bombing
plot, to the Library Tower plot, to the arrests in 2005 of individuals
who planned to attack synagogues and military recruiting centers, Los Angeles
is no stranger to the threat of terrorism. It is part of your daily reality.
But I am not here to talk about terrorism. I am here to talk about another
grave threat to Los Angeles—the daily reality of gang violence.
For the first time in many years, we are beginning to see a rise in violent
crime in cities across America.
Here in Los Angeles, overall crime actually decreased for the fifth consecutive
year. Yet at the same time, gang crime increased in 2006. This pattern
is not unique to Los Angeles—it is part of a clear national trend.
For better or worse, this is not new territory. Those of us who are bent
and bowed enough to earn the designation "baby boomer" remember
a rise in violent crime during the 1970s and 1980s. We almost lost several
of our large cities as economic and civic centers of American life.
But law enforcement came together with new resolve, resources, and tactics,
which brought about a 15 year decline in violent crime.
Law enforcement has risen to the challenge before—and will do so
again. But there is no silver bullet or miracle cure.
Today, I want to give you an overview of the national gang problem. Then,
I want to tell you how the FBI is working with state and local law enforcement
to tackle it. And finally, I want to discuss how law enforcement can move
beyond its traditional approach to combating gangs that are increasingly
non-traditional.
Gang violence has become a part of the daily lives of teachers and taxi
drivers, police officers and pastors, parents and children. In too many
neighborhoods, too many young people are recruited into gangs. They fall
into a life of crime, drugs, and violence. They shoot each other, with
no regard to the innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.
Los Angeles is ground zero for modern gang activity. Many gangs were born
here, a generation ago-the Bloods and the Crips, MS-13, and 18th Street.
And for every highly organized gang enterprise, there are hundreds of local
gangs wreaking havoc on street corners and in neighborhoods.
Modern gangs are more diverse, more dispersed, and more dangerous.
There is no "typical" gang. Some are comprised of just three
or four individuals whose sole ambition is to control drug sales on their
corner. Others have hi-tech hierarchies and maintain their own websites.
One gang may be robbing a bank for extra spending money, while five blocks
down, another gang may be committing murder for a criminal enterprise being
run out of a prison.
Gangs are no longer limited to Los Angeles. Like a cancer, gangs are spreading
to communities across America. For example, MS-13 was born in Los Angeles,
but has spread across 33 states and four foreign countries.
There are now over 30,000 gangs across America, and over 800,000 gang
members.
Here in Los Angeles, the ratio of gang members to police officers is overwhelming.
There are no more experienced officers than the Los Angeles police and
sheriffs' deputies when it comes to gangs. But like all law enforcement,
they are constrained by limitations of personnel, time, and resources.
That's where the FBI can help. We can combine our strengths with those
of state and local law enforcement to tackle gangs as a team.
One can picture the gang problem as a pyramid. The base is primarily made
up of the unsophisticated, loosely organized gangs. In the middle of the
pyramid are more structured gangs. And at the top is a relatively small
number of highly sophisticated gangs that are involved in organized criminal
activity.
These are the groups the FBI has traditionally looked for. Our strategy
has been to imprison, and thereby eliminate, the leadership of gang enterprises.
Let me give you an example. Back in 1997, police officers in Northern
California were investigating a local street gang. As they drilled deeper,
it became clear it was no ordinary neighborhood crew. Instead, all signs
pointed toward Nuestra Familia, one of the most powerful street and prison
gangs in Northern California.
Because the case was so complex, the police and the FBI joined forces.
I was the U.S. Attorney at the time, and we all worked as a team, conducting
an in-depth investigation. We uncovered a vast criminal conspiracy that
led all the way back to Nuestra Familia leaders, most of whom were already
incarcerated in Pelican Bay State Prison.
These leaders were directing the operations of the gang from behind bars.
They monitored drug sales so they could collect "taxes" from
members and even authorized murders-all from within their cells.
In 2001, 22 members and associates of Nuestra Familia, including its top
leaders, were indicted on federal racketeering and other charges. This
investigation spawned dozens of other investigations and resulted in over
75 convictions.
Taking out the hierarchy of a highly structured gang such as Nuestra Familia
can cripple the entire gang's activities. It can reduce, or even eliminate,
that gang's influence for a period of time.
Go back to the "gang pyramid" for a moment. The FBI's traditional
approach has been to identify gangs by working from the bottom up, but
dismantle them by working from the top down.
But given the scope of gang activity throughout America, it has become
clear that this traditional approach is only part of the solution to a
complex violent crime problem.
As violent crime statistics are rising, we in the FBI are asking ourselves:
How can we use our relatively limited resources to maximize our impact
on violent crime? What does a police chief in a community with rising violent
crime need from the FBI to help reverse the trend? Simply put, what more
can we do to help?
We begin with three assets that the FBI brings to the table: partnerships,
intelligence, and federal laws.
First, partnerships. Gangs can easily cross jurisdictions; so must law
enforcement. The most powerful response is a joint response. That's why
the FBI has 131 Violent Gang Task Forces across the country. FBI agents
work in lock-step with police on the street, sharing information and investigating
cases together. Four of those task forces are based in the Los Angeles
area.
In 2004, we formed the MS-13 National Gang Task Force. This Task Force
can see connections that might only be visible from the 30,000-foot perspective
and can help direct and coordinate investigations.
For example, in 2005, the gang task force in Los Angeles investigated
and indicted three alleged MS-13 leaders on federal drug distribution charges.
Those local arrests were the catalyst for an international gang sweep coordinated
by the MS-13 National Gang Task Force. More than 650 gang members were
arrested in 12 states and in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
As this case demonstrates, intelligence goes hand in hand with partnerships.
One good piece of intelligence—whether it is a phone number, a name,
or an ATM receipt—can be the breakthrough we need to make a vital
connection or crack a case.
Much of the gang intelligence the FBI collects comes from officers on
the street, who know their communities inside and out. In return, the FBI
disseminates gang intelligence to our state and local partners. One way
we do this is through the National Gang Intelligence Center, which serves
as a collection and distribution point for gang information. Our goal is
to get the right information to the right people at the right time.
Along with partnerships and intelligence, the FBI's third weapon is federal
statutes. Working together, we can bring gang cases to federal court, where
sentences are longer. Also, federal asset forfeiture laws allow us to seize
money, property, and other assets from convicted gang members.
Taking apart a gang is like demolishing a building. Hacking away at individual
walls and beams only does so much. But using federal drug and racketeering
statutes is akin to dynamiting the foundation. Once the gang's leadership
infrastructure implodes, all members are weakened. It becomes difficult
for the group to operate. Eventually it crumbles.
Partnerships, intelligence, and federal law. All three are interconnected,
and all three are vital elements in our formula for combating gang violence.
This formula has produced success stories in cities plagued by gang violence,
from Chicago to New York, and from San Antonio to San Diego. In 2006 alone,
Safe Streets Task Force investigations led to nearly 2,700 federal indictments
and 2,200 convictions.
Many of you may be wondering how this formula works in practice. Let me
give you a few recent examples.
You might have read about one of them in last month's issue of Los Angeles
Magazine, which profiled the city's "Influentials." A leader
of the Mexican Mafia named Ruben Castro made the list. Actually, he shared
the page with Chief Bratton...although, Chief, your picture is bigger!
Ruben Castro has been serving a life sentence in Colorado's Supermax prison
since 1997-yet he found a way to direct the drug operations of two factions
of the 18th Street gang.
After an intense investigation by the Los Angeles gang task force, Castro
and 17 others were indicted on federal racketeering and narcotics charges.
And in the meantime, intelligence gathered during the investigation helped
local police clear a number of homicides. It was a substantial blow to
the 18th Street gang.
As another example, in early 2004 the FBI and LAPD began investigating
the Black P-Stone Bloods, a violent gang that terrorized the Baldwin Village
area of Los Angeles. The Black P-Stones were responsible for over 20 homicides.
In November 2005, the task force indicted 18 members of the gang, including
many of its leaders, on federal narcotics charges.
And as we so often see, the investigation in Baldwin Village had a ripple
effect in the neighborhood. Once law enforcement leveled the gang's leadership,
the number of homicides in Baldwin Village in 2006 was cut in half.
But any homicide is one too many. And solving half the problem still leaves
the other half. Last fall, in that same neighborhood, 3-year old Kaitlyn
Avila was intentionally shot at point blank range by a 17-year old who
mistakenly believed Kaitlyn's father was a member of a rival gang.
Stories such as Kaitlyn's are a painful reminder of the shortcomings of
our efforts. We took down the leaders of the Black P-Stones, yet gang members
on the street still commit acts of violence. This means the FBI's strategy
of decapitating the leadership of organized gangs must be a starting point,
not an ending point.
The diversity and danger of today's gangs demands that the FBI and state
and local law enforcement enhance our efforts to defeat gangs.
First, to reinforce our partnerships, we will all need additional resources.
The FBI's goal is to substantially increase our gang task forces. More
task forces will allow us to provide more resources to our state and local
partners.
Second, the FBI will continue to improve its criminal intelligence efforts.
As our counterterrorism mission has taught us, we are concerned with prevention,
not just prosecution after the fact. Just as in counterterrorism, in order
to prevent crime, we must understand the full range of threats in any territory—not
just individual criminals or gangs that we have traditionally targeted.
To that end, the FBI established field intelligence groups in every field
office. Their primary focus has been assessing terrorist threats, but each
field intelligence group will also provide detailed assessments of criminal
threats in their areas.
Third, our task forces should deploy a range of emerging technologies
to support their investigations. For example, the FBI's Philadelphia office
designed a program that integrates data ranging from shootings to bench
warrants and from visa overstays to informants. It then displays the data
on a map, creating a geographical profile of crimes and criminals. This
allows investigators to see criminal threats, to spot areas where they
need to improve their intelligence collection, and to target their resources
accordingly.
Another technology can immediately identify the sound and location of
a gunshot, enabling a swifter response from law enforcement.
And as gangs grow more technologically sophisticated, it is imperative
for the FBI to provide teams of experts to support local efforts to intercept
the wireless communications of gang members.
Finally, we must continue to find creative ways to leverage our federal
criminal statutes. Whether that means applying stiffer federal sentences
to encourage gang members to cooperate with investigators, or providing
more protection to witnesses and their families, we know we need to do
more.
Gang crime may be part of our reality today, but law enforcement can change
that reality tomorrow. We in the FBI are committed to working with our
partners in state and law enforcement to meet this challenge.
This past November, the Santa Ana Gang Task Force conducted a take-down
of the Townsend Street Gang, which controlled a 16-block neighborhood.
For years, the community had been plagued by drugs, shootings, and homicides.
Families had become prisoners in their own homes. Gang members were savvy
to law enforcement.
Working alone, it was difficult for the Santa Ana police to make headway.
But working together, the task force was able to use federal statutes
to indict the top leaders of the Townsend Street Gang. As officers led
the subjects away in handcuffs, residents unbolted their doors, stepped
outside, and cheered.
One resident thanked the task force officers, saying, "There are
many good people here. Thank you for taking away the ones who cause trouble."
These are the moments that keep us going. These are the cases that give
us hope. These are the communities we are fighting for.
Fighting crime is deeply rooted in the FBI's heritage. Since its inception
nearly a century ago, the FBI has always stood shoulder to shoulder with
police and sheriffs to combat threats-from gangsters to organized crime
syndicates to terrorists. Standing together, we are more formidable than
any adversary.
In our post-September 11 world, our responsibilities are greater than
ever. But so is our resolve.
By standing together, we have made historic strides to lower crime rates
across America. And by standing together, we will do so again.
Congressional
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