Federal agents will start waging war on terrorists, gang activity and drug dealing on Long Island and parts of New York City, the region’s newly sworn in interim US Attorney announced.
The move by President Trump’s new pick to head New York’s Eastern District federal prosecutor’s office came hours after the commander-in-chief’s address to Congress, in which he vowed to crack down of criminals peddling narcotics and spreading violence.
“There is much more work to be done in the fight,” said interim US Eastern District Attorney John J. Durham Wednesday.
The overall goal is “dismantling” the organizations “with a particular focus on their senior leadership and management,” according to the district.
Targeting those responsible for overdoses is a top task.
“We have a responsibility to our community and our country to dismantle these ruthless organizations from the top down in order to stop the violence, flow of drugs, and dangers they unleash in our district and across the nation,” Durham added.
Joining the strike force is Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan E. Farrell of the office’s Long Island criminal section. She has prosecuted “significant organized crime, gang and sex trafficking cases,” according to the Eastern District.
The Transnational Criminal Organizations Strike Force was announced hours after Trump spoke about his decision to put foreign terror designations on “the bloodthirsty Mexican cartels” in addition to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13, which has had a notoriously high presence on LI.
“They are now officially in the same category as ISIS — and that’s not good for them,” said the president, who visited the MS-13 heavy area of Brentwood during his first term.
Durham’s statement on the force’s assembly also cited the locally present MS-13, among other vicious gangs and cartels like the Sinaloa organization.
Authorities will also pursue those involved in racketeering and other forms of terrorist activities.
Another priority is halting the local sale of the synthetic heroin fentanyl. Last month, a Bloods gang leader in Suffolk was arraigned for selling fatal doses of it to a mother of a young child in Rocky Point.
Francisco J. Navarro, chief of the district’s international narcotics and money laundering section, has been appointed director of the strike force, which will also include a minimum of one representative from each criminal division within the Eastern District.
Along with other assistant U.S. attorneys, representatives from the Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhood — a coalition of local, state, and federal law enforcement that identifies regional threats — will also be on the team.
