ATF Agents Honored During Anti–Defamation League Ceremony
LOS ANGELES — The Anti–Defamation League Sherwood Prize Award Ceremony was held yesterday at the Skirball Center located at 2701 North Sepulveda Blvd. Special Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Los Angeles Field Division were honored by the ADL for their work on Operation Stormfront.
Operation Stormfront was an undercover operation were ATF special agents set up a store front to conduct covert meetings with members of Public Enemy Number One and other white supremacist gang members. The agents infiltrated the gangs, supervise informants and purchase illegal materials, including firearms, narcotics and identity theft profiles. A task force of federal and local law enforcement agencies was established to disrupt criminal activities and street terrorism conducted by white supremacist and to dismantle the gangs’ leadership. The task force focused on two white supremacist gangs; Public Enemy Number One, a west coast based gang, and the Aryan Brotherhood, a gang started and based in the California State prison system. One of the main catalysts of forming the task force was when law enforcement became aware of evidence that one particular Aryan Brotherhood member, incarcerated in the Orange County jail system, was directing criminal activity both in the prison and on the streets for all white supremacist gangs in Orange County.
Dec. 16, 2010, after months of hard work and dedication of the task force members, the task force conducted the largest crackdown of white supremacist gang members in Orange County history. A total of 54 white supremacist gang members were arrested and indicted, many of them high ranking leaders in the gangs. Charges against those arrested included: conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, kidnapping, participation in a criminal street gang and many others. Operation Stormfront had an extremely deleterious impact on the white supremacist gangs in the area and greatly increased public safety.
The ADL Helene and Joseph Sherwood Prize for Combating Hate are presented to law enforcement agencies for their successful efforts to counter racial violence. Also honored for their participation in Operation Stormfront were U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
More information about ATF and its programs is available at www.atf.gov.
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