FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
July 6, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE HIRES NEW PROSECUTORS
TO PURSUE VIOLENT GANGS
Three New Federal Prosecutors Will Pursue Racketeering and Conspiracy Cases
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein announced today that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has hired three prosecutors to fill new positions focusing exclusively on criminal prosecutions of gang members. The last of the three new gang prosecutors was sworn in today.
“The strategy of identifying criminals with gang ties and using federal racketeering and conspiracy laws to hold gang members and leaders accountable is working to reduce violent crime in Maryland,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “A record number of federal prosecutors are now pursuing cases against violent criminals, and the volume of federal violent crime prosecutions continues to increase. The new gang prosecutors will allow us to devote even more resources to joint efforts with our local, state and federal partners to put dangerous gangs out of business.”
The new federal prosecutors will work with federal, state and local officials to identify, investigate and prosecute Maryland’s most violent gang members. Federal racketeering and conspiracy charges will be used in appropriate cases. In other cases, violent gang members may be prosecuted for federal firearms and drug violations or immigration offenses.
The new gang unit is funded for an initial two-year term. The program is part of Maryland’s Comprehensive Anti-Gang Strategy, which is funded by a federal grant and includes prevention, intervention and prosecution components.
The gang prosecutors are Clinton Fuchs and Thiru Vignarajah, who are based in the U.S. Attorney’s Baltimore office, and William Moomau, based in the Greenbelt office.
Fuchs, a native Marylander who earned degrees from Georgetown University and Columbia University School of Law, served as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judges William D. Quarles, Jr. and Richard J. Leon before joining a private law firm.
Moomau, a graduate of James Madison University and the University of Tulsa College of Law, previously was Chief of the Homicide Unit of the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Vignarajah, a Baltimore native who graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School, served as a law clerk to Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer before joining a law firm.
Recent gang prosecutions in Maryland include ongoing federal racketeering cases against members of the MS-13, TTP Bloods, Black Guerilla Family and PDL Bloods gangs. Additional federal racketeering investigations of violent gangs are underway.
Information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s gang prosecutions is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Gangs/index.html.