In a sweeping crackdown on narcotics and firearms trafficking, the Department of Justice has rounded up 20 individuals in connection with its Houston Violent Crime Initiative. A federal grand jury indicted the suspects across six separate but related cases between July 31 and August 22; 17 individuals were arrested just this week with preliminary hearings scheduled for early September, as per a recent release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Drawing from a mix of local and federal law enforcement resources, the initiative, first unveiled in September last year, focuses on using federal statutes to target gang-related criminal activities in Houston's southwest and southeast regions, the charges include allegations of distributing methamphetamine, over 15 kilograms of cocaine, and in excess of 30 firearms in total, arrests this week have led to 10 firearms, $26,000 in cash, and quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine seized.
The 20 defendants face an array of serious charges, with the gravest being conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which could result in life sentences for 15 of the accused should they be convicted; another subset of charges concern illegal firearm possession and machine gun possession, referring to firearms illegally modified to fire automatically with a single trigger pull, with penalties for these offenses varying up to a 15-year imprisonment term.
Agencies involved in the investigation include the FBI, Houston Police, Texas Department of Public Safety, and a coalition of local, state, and federal agencies, the collaboration exemplifies a concerted effort to quell the rampant violence stemming largely from the narcotics trade; Assistant U.S. Attorney Anh-Khoa Tran alongside Trial Attorneys Amy L. Schwartz, George Meggali and Shriram Harid of the Justice Department's Violent Crime and Racketeering Section are leading the prosecution effort with additional support from SDTX AUSA John Ganz and Trial Attorney Adam Tisdall of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
