U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko | U.S. Department of Justice
The Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio has concluded 2024 with significant achievements. This unit is tasked with prosecuting criminal organizations that violate federal laws across 40 northern counties in Ohio.
OCDETF, an independent component of the U.S. Department of Justice, is the largest anti-crime task force in the country. Its mission is to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations through a nationwide strategy that combines targeting, coordination, intelligence-sharing, and directed resourcing.
The task force approach encourages collaboration among various federal and local agencies. Agents and officers work together in shared locations under the leadership of a federal prosecutor. This model allows them to share information and collaborate on intelligence-driven operations aimed at dismantling large-scale criminal networks involved in transnational crime, including drug cartels and racketeering organizations.
In Northern Ohio, agencies such as the FBI, DEA, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, USMS, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, and USBP investigate OCDETF cases alongside local law enforcement agencies like the Cleveland Division of Police. Prosecutions are led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko stated: “No one group or agency can effectively combat organized crime while working in a silo. The OCDETF framework allows our federal investigative agents to coordinate with each other and local law enforcement.”
Several notable cases were prosecuted by the OCDETF Unit in 2024:
- In U.S. v. Ojeda-Elenes et al., four individuals linked to the Sinaloa Cartel were sentenced for a drug conspiracy involving fentanyl and cocaine.
- In U.S. v. Mullins et al., 21 members of a violent street gang known as Fully Blooded Felons were charged with multiple federal crimes.
- In U.S. v. Whittaker et al., 15 people were indicted after authorities seized over 42,000 fentanyl pills.
- In U.S. v. Bryant et al., Brandon Bryant was sentenced to over 30 years for his role in a fentanyl trafficking organization.
- In U.S. v. Lumbus et al., eleven people were charged in an international drug trafficking conspiracy involving synthetic drugs.
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