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Yesterday a federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland charged Dany Mejia, Saul
Angel and Rigoberto Mejia, all three of whom are leaders of the international gang
La Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 with federal racketeering crimes. Two of them
allegedly ordered murders in the U.S. from inside their prison cells in El Salvador.
If convicted, each defendant faces the maximum sentence in the United States of
life in prison for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise. All
defendants of course are presumed innocent under the law until otherwise -- unless
convicted.
The investigation being discussed today was initiated by the U.S. Attorneys Office
for the district of Maryland, conducted jointly with the Gang Squad within the
Criminal Division at the Justice Department and a task force headed by the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that includes agents and officers
from the ATF, FBI, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, the Maryland
National Park Police, the Maryland Department of State Police, the Montgomery
County Police Department, the Howard County Police Department and the Prince
Georges County Police Department. In addition, both the FBI's MS-13 National
Gang Task Force and Civilian National Police in El Salvador played critical roles,
and I want to recognize all of these law enforcement professionals for their
contributions to this case.
The challenge of gangs and violent crime remain with us, but I am committed to
making our neighborhood safer and I am extremely proud of our law enforcement
partners here in the U.S. as well as in El Salvador, Mexico and neighboring
countries.
ATF's number one priority is keeping America safe from violent crime. Today's
enforcement action is another in a long line of indictments against alleged MS-13
gang members who have wrecked havoc in suburban Washington, D.C. MS-13 is a
violent criminal organization that has terrorized our neighborhoods and jeopardized
community safety for far too long. This indictment sends a strong signal that anyone
who joins the gang participates in violent acts on its behalf will continue to be
brought to justice no matter where they may be. It also tells law abiding citizens,
especially young people, that we will not stand by while they are being terrorized in
their neighborhoods and in their schools.
Our approach to MS-13 is very simple, zero tolerance. We identify the low level
thugs in the gang, take them off the street, then go after the gang leaders and those
directing the criminal activity. Today's superceding indictment is the culmination of
that anti-gang strategy and our strategy is working.
To date, the ATF Baltimore Field Division, the RAGE Task Force and the U.S.
Attorneys office in the district of Maryland have charged 42 alleged MS-13 gang
members with various federal offenses including the 29 defendants in the RICO
conspiracy case.
RAGE investigations have already led to the conviction of 12 MS-13 gang members
for various violent crimes including racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder.
Street gangs today are more violent, more ruthless and better able to communicate
with each other than ever before. Though the work is more dangerous, the good
guys, the cops are getting better too. Every day we're sharing information on gangs
with each other and with communities to continue to take the bad guys off the
street.
Make no mistake about it, those working these cases deserve our admiration and
thanks because it's dangerous work. As long as they continue to terrorize our
neighborhoods, threaten our law abiding citizens and attempt to intimidate our
children, ATF in conjunction with our federal, state and local partners around the
country, will continue to target MS-13 and other violent gangs until we put them
out of business.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Attorney General, last month Jim Comey testified about visits you
and Andy Card made to John Ashcroft's hospital bed. Can you tell us your side of
the story? Why were you there and did Mr. Comey testify truthfully about it? Did
he remember it correctly?
QUESTION: On that subject, understanding you can't comment about the content,
would you just -- I assume you would disagree with Mr. Comey that your actions,
that they were inappropriate. Do you believe your actions, that they were
inappropriate? I'm not talking about any classified program, just the fact --
QUESTION: With regard to Scooter Libby today and the sentencing, I'm sure
you're aware of that, two-and-a-half years. He wanted nothing. Prosecutors asked
for three. Your reaction to the sentencing, number one. And then two, what message
do you think that's sending to the people of this country, especially with regard to
the behavior of higher level officials in the U.S.?
ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: I'd like to comment on it, but I have been
recused and am recused from this case in terms of the investigation and prosecution,
and so I think it would be best if I didn't comment on it. Obviously as a general
matter the department pursues evidence and prosecutes cases where they believe
there has been criminal wrongdoing, but I'm not going to comment specifically on
this case.
QUESTION: With regard to the thing on Mexico with the -- what exactly is going
to be the purpose to combat these gangs in Central America and especially the U.S.-
Mexican border? And if you will, I have a second question.
The President of Mexico has been saying in Europe yesterday and today again that
the U.S. is not doing enough to combat the drug traffickers, that Mexico is blamed
for everything and the U.S. government hasn't stopped the consumption of drugs
and the flow of arms to Mexico. What is your response to that?
QUESTION: Judge, the FBI estimated yesterday that MS-13 is now present in 40
states. I think the indictment says maybe fewer states. Can you explain how it was
once described as sort of a localized program? The problem has proliferated as a
national problem in a relatively short period of time. Did you underestimate their
strength?
MR. SULLIVAN: Well, I'm not sure that MS-13 was ever characterized as a local
problem. I think they're in the early stages of the identification of MS-13. There was
a realization that MS-13 was connected internationally. The challenge obviously is
trying to make those connections, connections beyond those local communications
and local relationships to a national, international effort.
And this is where I think the RAGE task force in this particular case and other task
forces operating around the country in the U.S. Attorney's offices are doing a
phenomenal job through programs like GangTECC to make sure that we are
connecting all the dots. I think it was realized a long time ago that MS-13 was
posing a significant threat. This task force was set up in 2003. This is not something
new certainly from the Department of Justice perspective.
QUESTION: This area has been particularly prone though to the MS-13 problem.
We've seen a lot of the murders, the machete attacks. For folks who are going to be
learning this information this evening, what does today's indictment necessarily
mean to that organization? Has it done significant damage in terms of these
indictments? What is it going to mean out on the streets?
Do we still have challenges with this gang in this country? No question about it,
and that's why we're working as hard as we can to develop good strategies, to look
at the appropriate task forces that are necessary, working with our state and local
partners, placing the appropriate federal resources to work with our state and local
partners to deal with it effectively. But you know, the challenge still remains and we
have to remain focused on it.
And it can't be solved here within this country. That's why the discussions we're
going to have in Mexico later this week are going to be very, very important to help
us deal with this problem here in this country.
QUESTION: Last month Monica Goodling testified that you tried to review the
sequence of events with the firings of the U.S. Attorneys. Is that true?
QUESTION: What you guys are going to do in terms of arms trafficking from the
U.S.
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