Attorney General Mukasey concerned about gangs like El Paso's Barrio Azteca 

by Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter: March 27, 2008 2:00 PM PDT

El Paso Times file photo
Barrio Azteca arrests continue
A Beretta .40mm confiscated following the arrests of Barrio Azteca members is shown in this file photo. A 57-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with a federal racketeering investigation targeting the Barrio Azteca gang. Related stories: Search past Barrio Azteca stories
Full story   FBI Combating Growing Violence Along The South Texas Border With Mexico  

El Paso's Barrio Azteca gang are some of the most dangerous in the nation. Federal authorities point to the Mexican drug cartels who are ultimately responsible for border violence by having cemented ties to street and prison gangs like El Paso's Barrio Azteca on the U.S. side of the border. Azteca like many other U.S. gangs retail drugs that they get from Mexican cartels and Mexican cartel gangs. Mexican gangs also run their own distribution networks in the United States, and they produce most of the methamphetamine used north of the border. They have even bypassed the Colombians several times to buy cocaine directly from producers in Bolivia, Peru and even Afghanistan. These same gangs often work as cartel surrogates or enforcers on the U.S. side of the border. Intelligence suggests Los Zetas They're known as "Los Zetas have hired members of various gangs at different times including, El Paso gang Barrio Azteca, Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, MS-13, and Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos to further their criminal endeavors. Dangerous Mexican Cartel Gangs

To help shield El Paso and other American border cities the DEA and the FBI have launched task force investigations they say targets the leaders of the major Mexican trafficking groups (drug cartels) that operate in Mexico and the U.S., and control the cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine on both sides of the border. This strategy is designed to dismantle the sophisticated leadership of these criminal groups by targeting their command and control functions and building cases on the surrogate members (gangs) and their U.S.-based infrastructure. The feds belief is anchored in their feeling that the only way to successfully attack any organized crime syndicate is to build strong cases on the leadership and their command and control functions. With the assistance of foreign governments like Mexico and Columbia, the long-term incarceration of the leadership will leave entire organizations in disarray.

This strategy combines the resources of the FBI, DEA,  the Department of Justice (DOJ), the United States Attorney’s Office, the United States Customs Service (USCS), and a host of State and local counterparts.

According to the FBI the National Joint Task Force and field investigations, remains committed to working with local, state, national, and international partners to disrupt and dismantle violent gangs.  Through this initiative they claim they have been able to harness the investigative, intelligence and operational functions of all of these members by coordinating joint investigations against these drug trafficking organizations.

Just today, Attorney General Mukasey announced that the Department of Justice is forming six more Safe Streets Task Forces. in the  Central District of California to six.

Since January 1992, the FBI the Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative has grown to include almost 200 task forces across the nation. This program allows each FBI Field Division to address violent street gangs and drug-related violence through the establishment of FBI sponsored, long-term, proactive task forces focusing on violent gangs, crimes of violence, and the apprehension of violent fugitives.

The Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force became the vehicle through which federal, state and local law enforcement agencies joined together to address violent crime plaguing their communities. The FBI's Safe Streets and Gang Unit administers 144 Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Forces nationwide.

Today's announcements reflect the Justice Department's significant commitment to combating violent gangs with our state and local law enforcement partners across the nation. According to the Justice Department.

The AG went on to say "In the last few years, the Department has taken several important steps to address the prevalence of gang violence. First, the Department established an Anti-Gang Coordination Committee to organize the Department's wide-ranging efforts to combat gangs. Second, each United States Attorney has appointed an Anti-Gang Coordinator to provide leadership and focus to our anti-gang efforts at the district level. Finally, the Anti-Gang Coordinators, in consultation with their state and local law enforcement and community partners, have developed comprehensive, district-wide strategies to address the gang problems in their districts".

As reported by the El Paso Journal Authorities say there is evidence that a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang also known as (MS-13) caught in El Paso recently was being harbored by the local Barrio Azteca and he was among a dozen members of the violent trans-national street gang stopped during law enforcement operations along the Texas-Mexico border, the Texas governor's office said recently. There appears to be at the very least an associate relationship between the to gangs and some cooperation in drug trafficking and other crimes along the border.

There are already about 500 street gangs, party crews and other gangs in El Paso, according to city police.

It is uncommon for a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) to be in El Paso according to local law enforcement officers. However Mexican authorities differ and say MS-13 has a known reputation for extreme violence including hacking victims with machetes (be-headings), controlling prisons and is a national security threat operating out of El Paso and Juarez borderplix area.

But the arrest follows a trend seen by border law enforcement of members of the Mara Salvatrucha, (MS-13), crossing the border to reach other U.S. cities. The governor's office said that members of MS-13, which has known cliques in Houston and Dallas, were also captured in Maverick, Webb and Hidalgo counties.

El Paso County sheriff's spokesman Deputy Eduardo Placencia said that a total of just 30 gang members have been arrested this year in warrant roundups, traffic stops and vehicle checks that were part of the low profile border security projects "Operation Linebacker" and "Operation Border Star".

Most of the gangsters arrested in El Paso County were of the Barrio Azteca and Folk gangs and not MS 13. 

There is still another dangerous gang in the El Paso area called the Tangos. "Gang intel said they are not having any problems with Tangos, yet. They have confirmed however that several of them are currently inmates" at the El Paso County jail, Placencia said.