Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York | Department of Justice
A new Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) has been established in New York, federal officials announced on December 10. The task force aims to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations operating in New York and across the United States.
The HSTF New York is co-led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies under a unified structure to target threats posed by organized crime groups.
“We hear what New Yorkers want: they want our parks, schools, housing developments, subways, and streets to be safe and feel safe,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Together with our federal partners and the NYPD, the Southern District is committed to delivering safe streets and a better quality of life for all New Yorkers. In the last year, we have collectively investigated and charged: members of Tren de Aragua and many other brutally violent gangs with murders, sex trafficking, and narcotics distribution; over a dozen narco-terrorists and members of state-sponsored drug cartels with narcotics distribution; foreign nationals with fentanyl distribution; and most recently, 18 defendants in a wide narcotics sweep aimed at cleaning up Washington Square Park. The women and men of the SDNY are actively engaged in similar matters and are committed to making New York safer each and every day.”
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr., representing the Eastern District of New York, emphasized the collaborative nature of the initiative: “The historic collaboration of this Task Force strengthens the mission to protect our citizens by standing between our Districts and the transnational criminal organizations, human smugglers, and cybercriminals who target us with drug trafficking, violence, and economic harm.”
Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge at FBI’s New York Field Office added: “FBI New York proudly stands alongside our federal, state, and local partners to co-lead with HSI New York the New York Homeland Security Task Force. By bringing the full force of the federal government, this task force will dismantle designated terrorist enterprises who are responsible for trafficking lethal drugs and weapons into our communities. Through unified partnership, we will continue to defend the homeland from evolving threats, safeguard critical infrastructure, and strengthen national resilience.”
Ricky J. Patel from HSI highlighted joint efforts: “The people of this city deserve to know that special agents and investigators at every level of law enforcement are standing side-by-side and collaborating under one roof so that New Yorkers may go about their lives safely and comfortably. The HSTF New York and HSI as its co-leader are driving coordinated investigations that strike at the heart of criminal networks and schemes both here and abroad. With unity as our strength and coordination as our advantage we will outpace outsmart outmaneuver transnational criminal organizations at every turn.”
Harry T. Chavis Jr., Special Agent in Charge at IRS-CI stated: “We are proud to have entered into this agreement with the New York Homeland Security Task Force as a partner... Whether it is money laundering Bank Secrecy Act violations a complex financial fraud or leveraging our tax authority we will continue working in tandem with all agencies under the HSTF umbrella to take criminals off the street...”
The mission of HSTF includes prosecuting transnational criminal organizations involved in crimes such as drug trafficking money laundering weapons trafficking human trafficking alien smuggling homicide extortion kidnapping among others where there is or may be a federal investigative interest.
HSTF will primarily focus on investigating Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) aiming for their disruption or complete dismantlement by combining intelligence community resources with law enforcement investigations.
The task force includes personnel from multiple agencies such as NYPD Department of Homeland Security Department of Justice Department of Treasury Department of State Department of War Office of Director of National Intelligence Department of Labor Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives Diplomatic Security Service Drug Enforcement Administration U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services U.S. Coast Guard Customs & Border Protection Marshals Service Postal Inspection Service Secret Service among others.
Nationally since August 25 when HSTFs officially launched operations over 3 200 foreign terrorists narcotraffickers gang members were arrested while more than 91 metric tons of narcotics were seized within six weeks across American cities.
Before establishing HSTFs there were around 1 000 separate task forces targeting transnational crime but now these efforts have been consolidated into a single system operating nationwide including all states & territories involving cooperation among federal state local tribal territorial authorities along with military & intelligence support.
The new structure also absorbs key elements from now-retired Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) including databases infrastructure partnerships & funding for continuity.
Unlike Safe Street Task Forces which focus on domestic gangs & violence reduction or Joint Terrorism Task Forces which address ideological terrorism threats HSTFs specifically target multijurisdictional international cartels & gangs aiming for prosecution-based disruption & dismantlement.
