GENERAL DEMPSEY ON TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME THREAT

The following excerpt is from a U.S. Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:

Dempsey Discusses Combatting Transnational Organized Crime

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

MIAMI, March 26, 2012 - Transnational organized crime is not specifically mentioned in the new defense strategy, but leaders understand the threat, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at U.S. Southern Command today.

One of the main missions of the command is to deal with the threat posed by drug cartels, human traffickers and gunrunners -- what the command calls transnational organized crime. The command works with regional allies and with U.S. interagency partners to combat this transnational threat.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey spoke during a Southcom town hall meeting before leaving for a visit to regional allies. Before the town hall, he met with Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, Southcom's commander, and received briefings on the range and breadth of threats and opportunities in the region.

"I want to assure you that we recognize the threat that transnational organized crime presents, not just because of what they transport to our shores, but what they could also transport -- terrorists and weapons and weapons of mass destruction," the general said.

These crime organizations present many of the same problems that other threats in the world pose the United States. "They are networked, they are decentralized and they are syndicated," he said.

Crime organizations are using 21st century technologies to commit their crimes. They are able to exercise command and control over a wide area and adapt quickly. Dempsey noted that the semi-submersible drug-running craft that is used as a display at Southcom headquarters is just a thing of the past to cocaine traffickers. They now use true submarines that carry a small crew, and a large cargo of cocaine.

The crime networks are decentralized, the chairman said, and will not mass against the United States because they will lose. Rather than challenge the American military directly, they'll work in an asymmetric manner.

Finally, they are syndicated. This means they will ally themselves with other organized crime gangs, weak governments, rebel groups, or whoever suits their needs at the time.

To defeat them, the United States has to be quicker than they are, Dempsey noted. The United States must be a partner in a regional network, and the Defense Department must be a part of a network that includes all aspects of government. The military can clear an area, but if the government cannot hold it -- and bring jobs, education and health care benefits -- it will lose that area.

JUDGE SAYS "VICIOUS MURDERER" GETS LIFE FOR RACKETEERING

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:

Thursday, February 16, 2012
“MS-13 Gang Leader in San Francisco Sentenced to Life in PrisonSeventh MS-13 Member to Receive Life Sentence in San Francisco
WASHINGTON –Danilo Velasquez, aka “Triste,” a local leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in San Francisco by U.S. District Judge William H. Alsup to life in prison, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for the Northern District of California and Director John Morton of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  Velasquez was convicted in November 2011 by a federal jury of racketeering-related charges.  At sentencing, Judge Alsup described the defendant as a “vicious murderer.”

Velasquez was part of the violent, transnational gang known as MS-13, which claimed part of the Mission District of San Francisco as its territory and operated in the Bay Area since the 1990s.  Velasquez joined the “20th Street” clique, or local MS-13 chapter, in 2004.   Since its inception, MS-13 members have warred with rival gang members and sought to extort payments from other criminals in its territory.   When the federal government indicted the majority of the 20thStreet clique members on Oct. 22, 2008, Velasquez assumed leadership on the streets.  T he evidence presented at trial showed how Velasquez, with others, conspired to commit a variety of crimes to further the goals of the gang, including attacking and killing rival gang members and others who defied or challenged MS-13.

During Velasquez’s trial, the government presented evidence of multiple murders committed by MS-13 members in 2008.  Several of the victims were not involved in gangs or any illegal activity, including a 14-year-old, but were mistaken to be rival gang members by MS-13 members.

The evidence at trial showed that on Feb. 19, 2009, Velasquez and fellow gang members Luis Herrera, aka “Killer” and Jaime Balam, aka “Tweety,” went looking to kill rival gang members in the San Francisco Bay area.   In the Excelsior District of San Francisco, they spotted a car of young Latino professionals – two were college graduates of UC Berkeley, one a law student at UC Hastings, one a bank employee and another a student at City College in San Francisco who was working his way through school at the time.   According to evidence presented at trial, these victims were targeted because some of the men wore baseball caps in colors associated with rival gang members.   None of the victims were gang members themselves.

Herrera, Velasquez and Balam followed the victims’ car into Daly City, Calif., boxed the car in at a red light, whereupon Velasquez and Balam flanked the victims’ car carrying semi-automatic handguns and began shooting.   By the time they finished firing, they had severely wounded two of the passengers and murdered a third passenger, Moises Frias Jr.   Frias, who was 21-years-old, suffered nine gunshot wounds, including several to the head.   He died en route to the hospital.

Herrera pleaded guilty mid-trial to seven racketeering-related counts, including use of a firearm causing the death of Frias.   As part of his plea, Herrera admitted that he was part of the MS-13 hunting party that followed the victims’ car and murdered Frias.   Herrera was sentenced on Jan. 24, 2012, to 35 years in prison.   Balam remains a fugitive.

Velasquez’s trial was the second of three consecutive federal trials of members of the 20th Street clique of MS-13.   Six of Velasquez’s fellow MS-13 gang members were convicted in August 2011 after a five-month trial that involved more than 150 witnesses.   The six gang members – Marvin Carcamo, aka “Psycho”; Angel Noel Guevara, aka “Peloncito”; Erick Lopez, aka “Spooky”; Moris Flores, aka “Slow Pain”; Jonathan Cruz-Ramirez, aka “Soldado”;   and Luis Herrera’s brother Guillermo Herrera, aka “Sparky” – were each sentenced to life in prison in December 2011.

Today, a federal jury convicted the sole defendant in the third trial, Manuel Franco, aka “Dreamer,” on one count of violent crime in aid of racketeering (VICAR) conspiracy.

These cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wilson Leung, Wil Frentzen, Derek Owens, Andrew Scoble and David Hall of the Organized Crime Strike Force of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, and Trial Attorney Theryn G. Gibbons of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section.   These cases were investigated by Daly City Police Department, San Francisco Police Department and ICE Homeland Security Investigations.”

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL SPEAKS ABOUT TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME STRATEGY

The following is an excerpt fromthe Department of Justice website:

Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Announcement of the Transnational Organized Crime Strategy
Washington, D.C. ~ Monday, July 25, 2011
Thank you, John [Brennan]. It is a privilege to join with you – and with so many other key leaders and critical partners, as we unveil a cutting-edge, comprehensive strategy that will take our nation’s fight against transnational organized crime to the next level.

Of course, the problem of transnational organized crime networks isn’t new. But after a wide-ranging, year-long review – the first study of its kind in more than 15 years – our understanding of what exactly we’re up against has never been more complete or more clear. And our efforts to prevent and combat transnational organized crime have never been more urgent.

In recent years, the Justice Department has strengthened our fight against these criminal organizations – and expanded on our successful counter-narcotics work. By establishing the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center, or IOC-2, we’re now coordinating the efforts of nine federal law enforcement agencies in combating transnational organized crime networks. We’ve also tapped the leaders of these agencies to serve on the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Council. And, to bring additional resources to bear, we recently merged the organized crime and gang sections within the Department’s Criminal Division.



Each of these steps will help to advance the new strategy we’re announcing today. They also reflect the fact that addressing transnational organized crime is no longer just a law enforcement issue. It is a problem that demands the attention – and assistance – of a broad spectrum of partners.



With this new strategy, leaders across government and law enforcement are signaling our commitment to combat transnational organized crime by sharing information and expertise as never before, by paving the way for broad international cooperation, and by developing the legislative solutions we need to address 21st-century threats. One of the centerpieces of this strategy is a series of legislative proposals designed to enhance the tools that the Justice Department– and our law enforcement partners – can bring to bear in the fight against transnational organized crime. These proposals would help to ensure that our statutory landscape is up to date, and that prosecutors and investigators have the capacity to keep pace with the unprecedented threats posed by criminal enterprises that target the United States – including those that operate beyond our borders.

These essential legislative updates would improve our ability to break the financial backbone of criminal organizations by extending the reach of anti-money laundering provisions. They also would enhance our ability to identify and respond to the most common, and often evolving, tactics – and methods of communication – that criminal organizations use to conceal their illicit operations and profits – which, too often, are used to bankroll drug trafficking and even terrorist activity.

By modernizing current racketeering laws and expanding their reach to cover new forms of crimes, we will enhance our ability to advance cases against transnational organized crime groups that engage in diverse criminal activities, including illegal weapons trafficking, health-care and securities fraud, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. And because we know that many of these organizations have long been involved in counterfeiting, the White House Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator has developed a series of proposals that seek to address the most egregious intellectual property crimes committed by criminal enterprises – including illegal activities that threaten our nation’s infrastructure, and the health and safety of our fellow citizens.

I have every confidence that the implementation of this new strategy – and the advancement of our legislative proposals – will strengthen cooperation among relevant authorities, advance our fight against organized crime networks – no matter where they operate – and allow us to build on the record of progress that has been achieved in recent years.

Once again, I’d like to thank my colleagues across the Administration for their commitment to the goals and responsibilities that we share. I look forward to working with them – and with leaders in Congress – to ensure that prosecutors and investigators have access to the tools that they need to protect the American people.

I am grateful to count each of you as partners. I am proud to stand with you. And I look forward to what we will accomplish together in the critical days ahead."