Organized Crime
The
FBI's fight against organized crime is unlike other criminal
programs. Instead of focusing on individual crimes, the
FBI's Organized Crime Program targets the entire organization
responsible for a variety of criminal activities. The
FBI has found that even if key individuals in an organization
are removed, the depth and financial strength of the
organization often allows the enterprise to continue.
The
FBI focuses its efforts on structured criminal groups
that pose the greatest threat to American society. These
criminal enterprises include traditional, well-entrenched
organizations such as La Cosa Nostra and Italian Organized
Crime, Russian/Eurasian Organized Crime, Nigerian Criminal
Enterprises, and Asian Criminal Enterprises. Additionally,
because many organized crime groups are drawn to the
lucrative profits associated with drug trafficking, the
FBI also focuses investigations on the Cali, Medellin,
and North Coast Colombian drug cartels, Mexican Drug-Trafficking
Organizations, and organizations based in the United
States.
The dismantling or disruption of major international and national organized
criminal enterprises is an area of FBI expertise. The FBI is uniquely qualified
to dismantle organizations because of the experience, training and expertise
of its Agents, the FBI's presence throughout the country, and its history as
a methodical and thorough investigative agency. The FBI's mission is accomplished
through sustained, coordinated investigations and the use of the criminal and
civil provisions of the RICO statute.
ORGANIZED CRIME CASE: LA COSA NOSTRA (LCN)
In the early 1990s, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, the Boss of New York's Genovese
LCN, was indicted and arrested as a result of the FBI's investigation of LCN
infiltration of New York City's construction industry. Gigante was charged
with ordering six murders - including that of Gambino LCN Boss John Gotti - and
conspiring in three others; he was also charged with labor racketeering and
extortion. Feigning mental illness, Gigante had his trial postponed twice,
but in June 1997, after being ruled mentally competent, his trial began. Gigante
was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. As a result of this investigation,
20 other LCN members were convicted and $4 million in illegally obtained LCN
assets were forfeited.
DRUG TRAFFICKING CASE: OPERATION RESURRECTION
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The
FBI Laboratory creates crime scene models, like
this one of a gang-related shooting, for use
in court. |
The FBI
conducted an undercover operation targeting the drug-trafficking
and money-laundering activities of the Colombia-based
Diego Montoya-Sanchez organization. This investigation
revealed that the Montoya-Sanchez drug-trafficking organization
shipped cocaine via Ecuador to Mexico, where it was off-loaded
onto trucks for land shipment to Florida, New York, and
Montreal, Canada. The FBI used sources at the highest
levels within Colombia and successfully engaged high-ranking
members of the Montoya-Sanchez drug trafficking organization
in a conspiracy to ship 2,000 kilograms of cocaine to
the United States from Colombia. The FBI worked with
Colombian law enforcement in efforts to locate and arrest
Montoya-Sanchez. This investigation served as a case
study in international and interagency cooperation. The
FBI and Colombian law enforcement worked seamlessly to
conduct a highly complex and broad-ranging international
investigation which, with the indictment of Montoya-Sanchez,
significantly impaired and disrupted the ability of a
highly effective transnational criminal enterprise to
operate within the United States and Colombia. The increased
coordination with foreign law enforcement agencies and
entities ensured the operation's ultimate success.
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