Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force

One of the principal objectives of the Department of Justice is to 'reduce the threat, trafficking, and related violence of illegal drugs by identifying, disrupting, and dismantling drug trafficking organizations.' The centerpiece of the Eastern District of Texas' effort to meet this objective is our involvement in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

Five attorneys stationed in Beaumont, Tyler and Plano respectively are permanently assigned to work these nationally significant investigations and prosecutions. These men and women marshal and direct the combined efforts of federal, state and local agents and officers who are committed to the task force approach of identifying, investigating and dismantling the most entrenched criminal drug organizations.

Since 1991, the Eastern District of Texas has initiated over 100 OCDETF investigations, has successfully prosecuted well over 1000 defendants and has orchestrated the criminal forfeiture of millions of dollars of criminal proceeds and criminally derived property.