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The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | November 2017
In particular , I want to thank the more than 100 police officers from 15 countries who are here with the Department of Justice ’ s International Criminal Investigative Assistance Program , or ICITAP , with support from the Department of State . Your work , in partnership with the in-country ICITAP advisors , makes people safer all around the world . Thank you again .
The threats we face have been growing . As the criminal element becomes more international , we must as well . That ’ s why conferences like this are exactly what we need . I have increased DOJ ’ s MLAT personnel and will do more to reduce response time . We will challenge others to do the same .
We are all facing a deadly lucrative international drug trade . Drugs are killing more Americans than ever before in large part thanks to powerful cartels and international gangs and deadly new synthetic opioids like fentanyl .
Perhaps the most brutal of these gangs is MS-13 — which is based in El Salvador , but whose tentacles reach across Central America , Europe , through 40 U . S . States , and to within yards of the U . S . Capitol .
With more than 40,000 members worldwide — including 10,000 in the United States — MS-13 threatens the lives and wellbeing of each and every family everywhere they infest .
MS-13 members brutally rape , rob , extort , and murder . Guided by their motto —” kills , rape , and control ” - they leave misery , devastation , and death in their wake .
But at the U . S . Department of Justice , we have a motto too : justice for victims and consequences for criminals . This is our motto and that is our mission .
Cross-border collaboration is essential .
We ’ ve already achieved some important successes this year . Just last month , the Department of Justice — along with our partners in El Salvador , Guatemala , and Honduras — announced criminal charges against more than 3,800 gang members operating across the United States and Central America . This coordinated action , known as Operation Regional Shield , targeted MS-13 and 18th Street gang members and seized their firearms , vehicles , and other assets .
But this work is not finished . I am announcing today that I have designated MS-13 as a priority for our Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces . These task forces bring together a broad coalition of our federal prosecutors , DEA , FBI , ATF , ICE , HIS , the IRS , the Department of Labor Inspector General , the Postal Service Inspectors , the Secret Service , the Marshals Service , and the Coast Guard . And they all have one mission : to go after drug criminals and traffickers at the highest levels .
Now they will go after MS-13 with a renewed vigor and a sharpened focus . I am announcing that I have authorized them to use every lawful tool to investigate MS-13 — not just our drug laws , but everything from RICO to our tax laws to our firearm laws . Just like we took Al Capone off the streets with our tax laws , we will use whatever laws we have to get MS-13 off of our streets .
But MS-13 is not the only target of our international cooperation .
In July , we announced the seizure and take down of AlphaBay — the largest dark net marketplace takedown in history . This site hosted more than 200,000 drug sale listings and was responsible for countless synthetic opioid overdoses across the globe , including the tragic death of a 13 year old in Utah .
This takedown was successful because of our close cooperation with our international partners at Europol and in Thailand , the Netherlands , Lithuania , Canada , the United Kingdom , France , and Germany .
But at the Department of Justice , we don ’ t just coordinate between national governments . We ’ re a federal department , but we also coordinate with state and local law enforcement . In the United States , 85 percent of law enforcement officers serve at the state and local levels . We cannot succeed without local police chiefs .
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