FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AG
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1996                         (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
  THIRTY MONTHS AFTER KICKOFF OF ANTI-VIOLENT CRIME INITIATIVE,
    ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO CITES SUCCESS IN REPORT TO PRESIDENT

    Federal Prosecutors Put Extra Effort into Targeting Gangs

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Falling crime rates are due in part to
reinvigorated Federal, state and local law enforcement efforts
sparked by the Justice Department's March 1994 Anti-Violent Crime
Initiative (AVCI), Attorney General Janet Reno said today in a
progress report to President Clinton.

     Reno's report, delivered at the White House today, comes
thirty months after the launching of the AVCI, which calls on U.S.
Attorneys to work with local law enforcement and community leaders
to develop coordinated strategies to address the most serious kinds
of violent crimes in their districts.  A report was also issued on
the AVCI's one-year anniversary.

     "Thirty months ago, we pledged to reinvigorate crime fighting
by pooling Federal, state, and local law enforcement resources as
never before," said Reno.  "Thirty months later, violent crime is
steadily falling -- thanks in part to the Anti-Violent Crime
Initiative."

     When the AVCI was announced, Reno directed that federal
weapons such as pretrial detention, wiretapping, grand jury
investigations, and federal racketeering and mandatory minimum
statutes be employed when appropriate to ensure the most effective
attack on individual or organized violent crime. 

     At Reno's direction, every United States Attorney met with
their law enforcement counterparts to identify their area's most
serious violent crime problems and map out strategies to get
violent criminals off the street.  In some instances, federal
prosecutors have used the "Three Strikes and You're Out" law or the
Violence Against Women Act, and targeted diverse problems like
youth violence, gun crimes, carjacking, and violence in public
housing and in rural areas.

     As part of the Administration's national gang strategy,
federal prosecutors have also increasingly used organized crime
statutes to target street gangs.  Since 1990, the number of RICO
(Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) prosecutions in
gang-related cases has risen 58 percent, and 38 percent of the
Department's RICO prosecutions this year have been gang-related.

	Some of the AVCI's successes include:

    In Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, nearly 100 members of the
     "Gangster Disciples" have been sentenced to terms ranging from
     five years to life, on charges that include operating a
     continuing criminal enterprise.  

    In Florida, fourteen "Outlaws Motorcycle Club" members and
     associates were convicted of racketeering and related offenses
     after an investigation coordinated by the Bureau of Alcohol,
     Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

    In New Jersey, federal, state and local law enforcement have
     committed to report all firearms seized in criminal activities
     to ATF, which has led to the investigation and arrests of
     several significant gun traffickers.

    In the Frazier Courts housing project in Dallas, Texas, a
     crackdown by federal and local law enforcement led to the
     indictment of twenty-four gang members on narcotics and
     firearms charges, including using children to sell crack. 
     Twenty-two have been convicted.

    In rural Arkansas, a multi-agency cooperative investigation
     led to a RICO conviction and life sentence for a crime leader
     whose organization had committed arson, dealt drugs, stole
     trucks, and distributed methamphetamine in White County.

    In Pennsylvania, an Interstate Task Force has used the federal
     carjacking statute in a number of cases, including one when
     the defendants kidnapped a priest at gunpoint, pistol-whipped
     him and shot him in the back.  Two defendants were convicted
     and sentenced to 30 years or more; another awaits trial.

     Reno emphasized that it is not the objective of the initiative
to federalize all violent crime.  "State and local police remain
the ground troops in the war against violent crime," Reno said. 
"For this reason, we will continue to oppose any attempt to
undercut our commitment to funding 100,000 police nationwide."

     The Justice Department's 1997 budget request included $31.8
million to help crack down on gangs, an 11 percent increase in
resources to fight illegal drugs, money to put nearly 20,000 more
cops on the beat, and additional money to build prisons, fight
violence against women and stop illegal gun sales.
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96-448