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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:27 pm
Time: 9:27 pm
Results for operation fast and furious
2 results foundAuthor: United States. Department of Justice. Oversight and Review Division Title: A Review of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters Summary: On October 31, 2009, special agents working in the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) received information from a local gun store about the recent purchases of multiple AK- 47 style rifles by four individuals. Agents began investigating the purchases and soon came to believe that the men were so-called “straw purchasers” involved in a large-scale gun trafficking organization responsible for buying guns for transport to violent Mexican drug trafficking organizations. This investigation was later named “Operation Fast and Furious.”1 By the time ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona (U.S. Attorney’s Office) publicly announced the indictment in the case on January 25, 2011, agents had identified more than 40 subjects believed to be connected to a trafficking conspiracy responsible for purchasing over 2,000 firearms for approximately $1.5 million in cash. The vast majority of the firearms purchased by Operation Fast and Furious subjects were AK-47 style rifles and FN Herstal 5.7 caliber pistols. During the course of the investigation, ATF agents seized only about 100 of the firearms purchased, the result of a strategy jointly pursued by ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office that deferred taking overt enforcement action against the individual straw purchasers while seeking to build a case against the leaders of the organization. Numerous firearms bought by straw purchasers were later recovered by law enforcement officials at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States. One such recovery occurred in connection with the tragic shooting death of a federal law enforcement agent, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry. On January 16, 2010, one of the straw purchasers, Jaime Avila, purchased three AK-47 style rifles from a Phoenix-area gun store. ATF agents learned about that purchase 3 days later and, consistent with the investigative strategy in the case, made no effort to locate Avila or seize the rifles although ATF had identified Avila as a suspect in November 2009. Two of the three rifles Licensee (FFL) is a person, partnership, or business entity that holds a license issued by ATF that allows it to “engage in the business” of dealing, manufacturing, importing, or repairing firearms. Under federal law, a person is “engaged in the business” when he devotes time, attention, and labor to any of these activities with the “principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms[.]”6 ATF’s licensing process is intended to ensure that only qualified individuals receive a license to sell guns. According to materials provided to us by ATF, the application process includes the submission of a completed questionnaire containing information about the applicant, the type of license sought, and the business premises, among other items. Applicants must also submit fingerprint cards for criminal background checks and are advised that they should expect to be contacted by an ATF investigator during the application process. An applicant who is granted a license receives several agency publications from ATF, including ATF’s Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide, Safety and Security Information for Federal Firearms Licensees, and Federal Firearms Licensee Quick Reference and Best Practices Guide. ATF also provides information about various ATF and Department components relevant to FFL operations, and a summary of state firearms laws and ordinances to new licensees. ATF Industry Operations Investigators are authorized to review FFLs’ records and inventory, to conduct annual warrantless inspections of FFLs to ensure compliance with federal recordkeeping requirements, to obtain an inspection warrant if needed, and to obtain a “reasonable cause warrant” if there is evidence of certain violations. Violations can result in the revocation of an FFL’s license. Investigators also work with ATF special agents in cases where criminal activity is suspected. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Oversight and Review Division, 2012. 514p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2013 at: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2012/s1209.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2012/s1209.pdf Shelf Number: 129396 Keywords: Illegal Arms Transfer (U.S.)Illegal FirearmsOperation Fast and Furious |
Author: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General Title: A Review of the Department of Justice's and ATF's Implementation of Recommendations Contained in the OIG's Report on Operations Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver Summary: In September 2012, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a 471-page report that described the findings of our review of two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) firearms trafficking investigations, one code named "Operation Fast and Furious" and the other "Operation Wide Receiver." Our review identified serious management flaws in both investigations and we made six recommendations to address the deficiencies we found. We requested that the Department of Justice (Department or DOJ) examine ATF's law enforcement policies to ensure that they comply with the Department's guidelines and policies, and evaluate the sufficiency of ATF's case review procedures for matters that present heightened risk to the public or agents. We also believed that ATF should institute training; we requested the Department work with ATF to develop guidance on how agents should investigate gun trafficking organizations. The remainder of our recommendations were focused on the Department itself or its law enforcement components other than ATF. We requested that the Department evaluate the policies of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) to ensure that they are sufficient to address the concerns we identified from the conduct of Operations Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver. We also recommended that the Department more carefully scrutinize wiretap applications and regularly convene a working group of leaders from the Department's law enforcement components to ensure appropriate coordination among them. In its initial written response to the report, the Department stated that it agreed with our recommendations and committed to implementing them. In this follow-up review we evaluated the Departments efforts to implement our recommendations. We determined that four of the six recommendations can be closed. The two remaining recommendations have been resolved, but additional work needs to be completed in order for them to be closed. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2016. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Oversight & Review Division 16-01: Accessed February 25, 2016 at: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/o1601.pdf#page=1 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 137964 Keywords: Firearms TraffickingGun traffickingOperation Fast and FuriousOperation Wide ReceiverTrafficking in Weapons |