Posted on 08/26/2006 12:55:21 PM PDT by shield
Other agencies also on task force formed to combat spike in homicides
FBI agents will work alongside Houston police in the office and on the streets as part of the latest counterattack on the city's ongoing gang violence, Chief Harold Hurtt announced Friday.
Flanked by officials from several federal agencies and the Harris County Sheriff's Department, all of whom will join the effort, Hurtt said the new task force would target violent street gangs through shared expertise, intelligence and manpower, with 10 FBI agents in the field.
"The goal is to target the most violent gangs in Houston ... and disrupt and dismantle the gangs themselves," said Hurtt, who has announced a series of measures to confront a dramatic increase in gang-related homicides since he joined the Houston Police Department in 2004.
Earlier this year, Houston police cited 47 gang-related murders last year compared with 21 in 2004. On Friday, the head of HPD's gang division said HPD identified 25 during the first six months of 2006, a 92 percent increase from the same period in 2005.
In response, Hurtt expanded the department's gang unit in May 2005. At the start of this year, he created a squad within HPD's homicide division specifically targeting gang-related murders in response to the spike there.
One of those deaths occurred in June, when a 15-year-old boy was stabbed during what police said was a gang feud at a Montrose-area park. Ashley Paige Benton, 16, has been charged as an adult in connection with the June 6 death of Gabriel Granillo.
Police said about 30 people were involved in the fight in which baseball bats, golf clubs, tire irons and machetes were used. Granillo's family members suspected that Granillo and his brother, Steven, 17, had links to Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, an especially violent gang with roots in El Salvador.
Hurtt offered assurances that HPD would work alongside immigration authorities when it came to dealing with gangs such as MS-13, whose members often are illegal immigrants. Hurtt has taken heat recently for HPD's policy on illegal immigrants in which officers don't make inquiries about citizenship status.
Hurtt explained that Houston gangs possess varying degrees of sophistication — the better organized groups are those that aim to make money through such nefarious means as narcotics, human smuggling, theft and other crimes.
The new task force also will include the Texas Department of Public Safety and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Drug Enforcement Administration. The agencies will also work to uncover any gangs found to have ties to terrorism groups, said Dan Perales, assistant chief of HPD's special investigations.
"If there is a nexus to those groups we will pass that information along," Perales said.
During Friday's news conference, Perales and the other law enforcement officials did their best not to stoke fears about the spike in gang violence, saying that such violence has long existed.
HPD Capt. Mike Graham, who oversees the gang division, also urged people not to blame Hurricane Katrina evacuees. He said there was some "fallout" when drug dealers from Louisiana encroached on dealers' territories here.
Hurtt said he asked FBI director Robert Mueller last summer for help.
"I told him we could use assistance not only in personnel, but also in the sharing of data and intelligence," Hurtt said.
Roderick Beverly, FBI special agent in charge in Houston, said the agents assigned to the unit already have expertise in gangs. He also said the new responsibilities will not detract from counterterrorism investigations.
The task force, he added, represents a growing trend with the bureau.
"Almost everything the FBI does is in task force mode," Beverly said. "We work together (with other agencies) now more than ever before."
And if Ernesto hits NOLA Houston will NEVER get rid of them.
p.s. Thanks Mayor White for all the heartaches.
Many are staying cause it's free to them. FEMA is still paying their rents, they say why leave. Besides, no one is paying for them to return to N.O.'s. If someone would pay.....well....
"Police said about 30 people were involved in the fight in which baseball bats, golf clubs, tire irons and machetes were used. Granillo's family members suspected that Granillo and his brother, Steven, 17, had links to Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, an especially violent gang with roots in El Salvador."
They're just committing the acts of senseless violence that Americans won't do. /sarcasm
We live a sheltered life here in western NC, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. What's up with all these gangs? Why aren't these people working and raising a family instead of killing people? Or is killing a sport? If so, they could enlist in the Army or Marine Corps and kill all they want in the middle east. Seems like a simple solution to me.
heard
LOL
Most aren't Americans. Gangs from Mexico, Central and South America....don't think they'd be the right stuff for our Military...IMHO...
Oh. Ok. But why does W want them to remain here without consequence? He used to be governor of TX. And now the FBI is going into Houston to help fight against illegal aliens killing its citizenry? If I were W, I'd want the bad guys dead.
I'm so confused...
/sarcasm
"p.s. Thanks Mayor White for all the heartaches."
And don't forget Gov. Goodhair, who saw Katrina as an excellent photo op, leaving Houston with the dregs of NO society without so much as a pooper-scooper for cleanup.
They don't deserve the good stuff. We could just use the cheap crap confiscated from the criminals themselves.
Very rarely do I call someone a troll. Very rarely do I bring attention to someone's 'member since' date.
But this forum doesn't advocate violence, so perhaps you should go back to Stormfront or whatever rock you slithered from.
BTW, I like your ID. Have one on me.
Why is volunbeer a troll? What is Stormfront?
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what portends for America. It is about time that the FBI start concentrating on the tens of thousands of gang members in our country instead of chasing a handful of "right wing" fanatics. Vote constitution party before it is to late.
Don't speak too soon. There's allegedly lots of gang activity in rural communities in the VA Blue Ridge. Sorry, I can't find a link, but I believe the Washington Post did a big story on it.
If so, they could enlist in the Army or Marine Corps and kill all they want in the middle east.
They are. But, it's not such a good thing:
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/7978035/detail.html?subid=22105263&qs=1;bp=t
Wait a minute. I guess I'm hopelessly old fashioned, but how does the FBI walk the streets policing street crime?
Yeah, I guess people will say the gangs are interstate entities or something. That's "Interstate Commerce Clause" sophistry, if you ask me.
It will be the Marines soon enough.
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