Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Gang Murders in New York City

On Sunday, April 23, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed on ABC News' This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: That letter did raise the ire of one prominent law enforcement official here in the city of New York. The New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill. He was responding to this sentence in that letter you sent. It said New York City continues to see gang murder after gang murder, the predictable consequence of the city's soft on crime stance. . . . 

SESSIONS: Well, that was a statement that went out dealing with the sanctuary city situation. The police officers, the sergeants association has made a statement saying Jeff Sessions is correct. This is a soft on crime policy. 

But, look, we want to work with our mayors, we want to improve law enforcement in America. Half of the murders in New York are gang-related, many of those are people -- gangs who have illegal aliens involved in them. So why would you not want to deport those and make the city even safer? . . .

Drug Enforcement Administration agents over several years attend sex parties paid for by drug cartels

With the drug cartel making so much money from selling drugs, it is hard to see how the government can pay DEA agents enough to keep them from being tempted.  From Fox News:

In another major embarrassment for federal law enforcement, a Justice Department watchdog report alleges several Drug Enforcement Administration agents attended "sex parties" with prostitutes paid for by local drug cartels.  

The alleged parties took place in an unnamed "host country," which reportedly was Colombia, over a period of several years. According to the Justice Department inspector general report, the parties were even held in agents' U.S. government-leased quarters.
Further, agents received "money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members," according to the report, which explored sexual misconduct allegations and how they are handled at the DEA; FBI; Bureau of  Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF); and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS).  

The IG report found such allegations often went unreported or underreported, or were not pursued properly.  

The findings were immediately met Thursday with outrage on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers for years have pressured agencies to get tough on misconduct from within -- most notably, following the Secret Service prostitution scandal in 2012, also in Colombia. . . .

With Drug Cartel Violence Rampant, Mexican government cracks down on citizens ("vigilantes") who are trying to protect themselves

With Mexico's extremely strict gun control laws failing to stop drug cartels from getting a hold of weapons, the Mexican government is using its resources to making sure that private citizens aren't able to defend themselves.  From the Washington Post:

The Mexican government is facing a crucial test over the coming days as it moves to rein in armed militia groups across the mountain towns of Michoacan, the volatile western state where avocado farmers and lime pickers have banded together to drive out drug cartel gangsters. 

While the “self-defense” movement has been celebrated in many corners of Mexico, it has also produced embarrassing images of teenage vigilantes running highway checkpoints and brandishing AK-47s and other weapons that are supposed to be illegal. 

The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto began demobilizing the militias this weekend and replacing them with a new force, the Rural Police, whose ranks will be drawn from the vigilantes themselves. 

But the government’s demobilization push has also created the potential for new clashes: between Mexican security forces and militiamen, but also among rival militias, including those that have boycotted the process and allege their former comrades are morphing into new, government-sanctioned criminal groups. . . . .  

“Everyone is afraid that the government will make a deal and the cartel will come back,” said Eriberto Sanchez, a portly 30-year-old militiaman standing at a roadside bunker of fraying sandbags, a mother-of-pearl-handled Colt .38 pistol tucked in his belt. “We don’t have an honest government.”

If Mexican police and soldiers try to forcibly disarm the militias, “a lot of blood will be spilled,” he said. . . .

Chicago's gang problem, role of cuts and changes in police policies

Murder during the first six months of 2012 was up by 38% to 263.  From the Christian Science Monitor:

The police and city officials say street gangs are responsible for 80 percent of all shootings this year. Chicago recently surpassed Los Angeles – the longtime gang capital of America – in total gang membership and activity, say crime experts. 

Just how many gangs operate in the Chicago area is debatable – sources say between 59 and 70, with as many as 150,000 members. But the big street gangs that dominated here in the early 1990s have splintered into as many as 600 factions, according to police. These splinter groups identify with the heritage of the long-established gangs – borrowing their name mainly as a brand – but they tend not to be bound by their rules. 

Whereas the historic gang warfare was between monolithic crime organizations that controlled thousands of members each, today's street violence more often stems from personal squabbles and retaliatory conflicts among smaller hybrid groups whose control extends only a few blocks. . . .

Rahm Emanuel has certainly left his stamp on the police department.  Here is an article from last October.

As the Chicago Reader reports, despite Emanuel's claim that "nearly 750 additional officers" have been deployed to Chicago's neighborhoods over the course of his first 100 days in office, the number of Chicago police officers has actually decreased slightly. As of last Wednesday, the force is down 260 since last October and short 700 officers compared to five years ago. The bulk of the 750 "new" cops were redeployed from special operations units created by former top cop Jody Weis. 

Earlier this month, McCarthy said his department would "trim the fat on executive staff," not the police force, to deliver $1 million in budget savings. Meanwhile, since he was appointed earlier this summer, McCarthy has repeatedly vowed to make "quality of life" arrests -- such as noise violations or public drinking, as two examples -- a priority for his force. McCarthy has claimed such "sweating the small stuff" helps prevent larger crimes, like shootings, before they happen. . . . 

Shortly after that Emanuel cut more from the budget.

The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police on Wednesday dismissed Mayor Rahm Emanuel's call for massive cuts -- reportedly to the tune of $190 million of the Chicago Police Department's $1.3 billion budget -- as a "stunt." . . .

A link between drug gangs and murder in Puerto Rico?

From Fox News:

As is common in areas that see a spike in drug trafficking, violence in Puerto Rico has also skyrocketed. The Caribbean averages one murder every 7.5 hours, and half of them are linked to drug trafficking. . . .

Apparently, the claim is that Puerto Rico had a murder rate of 26.4 per 100,000 in 2010, which is about five times higher than the US rate.  


Murder: PR: 26.4 per 100,000 US: 4.8
Robbery: PR: 176.8 per 100,000 US: 119.1
Rape: PR: 1.1 per 100,000 US: 27.5
Aggravated Assault: PR: 73.8 per 100,000 US: 252.3
Burglary: PR: 479.9 per 100,000 US: 699.6
Theft: PR: 729.5 per 100,000 US: 2,003.5
Auto theft: PR:182.8 per 100,000 US: 238.8 

Mexico: When the police can't protect you

So what do you do if the government can't protect your from crime? Well, in Mexico, it is pretty hard for you to do much of anything, legally.

BTW, one other point. Apparently I don't live next to the cool US gun stores. If the Mexican drug gangs get their weapons from the US, could someone please tell which gun stores sell anti-aircraft guns, a grenade launcher, and dozens of grenades. This is a useful article on many points.

Despite strict gun-control laws in Mexico, crime scenes are riddled with bullet holes. Both drug cartels and common criminals have guns. Now more private citizens are arming themselves for protection, even if it means breaking the law.

“People are desperate,” said Rogelio “Chief” Bravo, a private investigator in El Paso who has worked for clients just across the border in Ciudad Juarez too. “They’re telling the government, if you can’t protect us, let us protect ourselves.”

Juarez is ground zero in the drug war with 8,000 killings since the city exploded in violence in 2008.
Mexican authorities regularly display the weapons they confiscate from powerful drug traffickers.

Earlier this month, federal police raided a home in an upscale neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez looking for kidnapping victims. Instead they found a well-stocked arsenal that included three anti-aircraft guns, a grenade launcher, dozens of grenades, AK47s and several machine guns.

The stash was hidden behind a mirrored wall in a gym that opened at the touch of a button on the floor. Inside with the weapons and ammunition there was a poster of the 1983 movie drug lord “Scarface” played by Al Pacino.

Many ordinary residents in Mexico believe guns are banned.

“The Mexican constitution allows people to possess firearms,” explained John Hubert, a certified-concealed hand gun instructor in El Paso. “But over the years the government has passed so many requirements and laws and restrictions that it’s basically almost impossible.” . . . .

Gun owners in Mexico by law must register their weapons with the military, which is the only authorized gun dealer. Any weapon above 22 calibers is only authorized for military use.

“People cannot defend themselves,” said Bravo, the private investigator as he practiced his shot at a shooting range in El Paso. He then demonstrated the tiny bullet hole from a 22 compared to the larger 9 mm, or even larger 40 caliber firearm on the target. . . .

Want a free pass from the police to deal drugs? Be a snitch.

So would legalizing drugs increase crime? That seems to be the implicit claim here because after all if drugs were legalized dealers wouldn't need to snitch. Supposedly what drug dealers do isn't as bad as what they are snitching on so if they didn't snitch things would get worse, right? I guess that I have my doubts.

In 1998, I was a community lawyer in inner-city Baltimore and taught an after-school law class for neighborhood kids. One evening, a boy of about 12 said something that would change my thinking forever.
"I got a question," he said, leaning forward intently. "Police let dealers stay on the corner 'cuz they snitching. Is that legal? I mean, can the police do that?" When I explained that they could, he and his friends slumped down in disgust. "That ain't right!" and "The police ain't doing their jobs!" they exclaimed. "So all you gotta do is snitch," another concluded, "and you can keep on dealing." . . .

Thanks to Nikki for alerting me to this article.

Mexico is one country that could really use a right-to-carry law

Mexico has always had a much higher murder rate than the US. But with the drug gangs even what had once been safe areas are no longer safe. With gun bans, it seems like only the drug gang members are carrying around guns.

They were aware of the dangers. Agustin Roberto "Bobby" Salcedo and his wife, Betzy, knew that this town, like much of Mexico, was no longer the tranquil spot it had been.

"I've been coming regularly," Salcedo's widow said Saturday of her hometown. "We knew how bad it had become."

And yet, the Salcedos ventured out for a few beers the night before New Year's Eve.

"We were just going out with a group of friends," Betzy Salcedo said, speaking slowly and casting her eyes downward. "You are careful, you look around, but you never think this kind of thing can happen . . . to innocent people. We were having a good time. Then we were in the mouth of the wolf."

Hours later, Bobby Salcedo was dead, hauled away from the bar with five other men, their bodies dumped in a dried-grass field on the outskirts of town.

Arrangements were being made Saturday to repatriate Salcedo's body. The 33-year-old, who was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, was an assistant principal and school board member in El Monte.

His slaying underscores the random volatility of the violence in Mexico and the ease with which the pain it causes can seep past the country's borders. . . .

Thanks to Ben Zycher for this link.

Gang member's advice on how to cut down on murder: "Buy a gun"

This article also points out something that I have been saying for sometime that a large portion of crime are drug gang related. I would point out again that just as gangs can get the drugs to sell they can get the guns that they need to protect those drugs from other gangs.

Gang violence boosts death tally
A spike in the number of deadly gangland quarrels pushed last year's homicide count to 60
by Lou Michel
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: January 03, 2010,

. . . "Buy a gun," a member of a recently busted inner-city gang told The Buffalo News last week when asked what could be done to curtail homicides. "Hey, I'm just being honest. You asked."

Tall and good looking, the young man half smiled, shrugged and seemed to disappear into his oversized winter coat.

Twice the victim of gunfire — a fact a street cop confirmed — the young man said he views self-protection as the best means of avoiding death on the streets.

The gangs that fight over territory and drugs, he said, are often not well organized. . . .

Thanks to Peter K for sending me this link.

Texas moves to help defend its border

With all the huge increase in money being spent by the federal government, this obviously doesn't seem to be a priority.

Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday.

"It is an expansive effort with the Rangers playing a more high-profile role than they've ever played before," Perry said of the Department of Public Safety's elite investigative unit.

The forces, dubbed "Ranger recon" teams, are the latest effort "to fill the gap that's been left by the federal government's ongoing failure to adequately secure our international border with Mexico," he said. . . .

Perry's announcement Thursday comes amid increasing border violence, particularly in El Paso, mostly involving people with ties to Mexican drug gangs.

"They'll be deployed to high-traffic, high-crime areas along the border," he said. "They'll give us boots on the ground, put people in these hot spots no matter what or where they may exist." . . .

Mexican firearms treaty

Drug gangs are causing real trouble in Mexico. Drug gangs get guns in Britain, Jamaica and other countries with gun bans or extremely strict gun laws. Mexico already has strict gun control laws. Adding them to the US won't make any difference. The guns that they have are already not from the US, certainly not the worst weapons. From the Washington Times.

President Obama's call for the Senate to ratify a hemispheric small-firearms treaty dominated his last visit to Mexico, but in the four months since, both the treaty pledge and the drug violence that prompted it have dropped off the radar - a victim of Congress' full schedule and gun politics.

That means on Sunday Mr. Obama will go with an empty hand to Mexico, which blames the U.S. for many of the weapons used by drug cartels that have violently thwarted a crackdown by Mexican authorities.

And even though Mr. Obama and his administration have accepted that blame, prospects are dim for passage of the treaty, which calls on countries to license gun manufacturers and try to control illicit trafficking in firearms, ammunition and explosives. . . .

But the National Rifle Association now claims CIFTA could hurt hunters and says U.S. Second Amendment interests should not be controlled by an international treaty. Key senators such as Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat whose gun-rights credentials may be crucial to his winning re-election next year, was cool to Mr. Obama's call for ratification in April, and a spokesman said nothing has changed since. . . .

"Study finds half of men arrested test positive for drugs"

From USA Today:

Half of the men arrested in 10 U.S. cities test positive for some type of illegal drug, a federal study found.
Not only do the findings show "a clear link between drugs and crime," they also highlight the need to provide drug treatment, says Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which will make the data public Thursday.

Assessing offenders for drug and mental health problems and providing treatment is "important if you want to stop recidivism and recycling people through the system," says Kerlikowske, who supports drug courts that offer court-ordered drug treatment.

"There's an opportunity when someone is arrested to divert them to treatment if they need it," says Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance Network, a group that supports legalizing marijuana and treating drug use as a public health issue. "But people shouldn't have to get arrested to get treatment."

In 2008 researchers interviewed and obtained urine samples from 3,924 men arrested in 10 metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New York, Portland, Ore., Sacramento and Washington, D.C. . . . .

80% of U.S. crime due to Gangs, primarily drug gangs?

USA Today has this piece:

Criminal gangs in the USA have swelled to an estimated 1 million members responsible for up to 80% of crimes in communities across the nation, according to a gang threat assessment compiled by federal officials.

The major findings in a report by the Justice Department's National Gang Intelligence Center, which has not been publicly released, conclude gangs are the "primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs" and several are "capable" of competing with major U.S.-based Mexican drug-trafficking organizations. . . . .