all right thank you all for coming uh good morning I am Michelle Jacobs I'm the acting United States Attorney here and I'm here today along with Chief Flynn uh mayor Barrett Mr rinsky uh from the FBI the sac uh Jim Bone DEA and where's Tom Conlin from the United States Marshall service at Po from Haida and all of our the law enforcement Partners uh who I I really think it's important I guess before I start just to say that this group I think really embodies what is the most important thing that we have to say here today and that is that the Partnerships that we've forged between the local law enforcement state and federal law enforcement are sort of here to say as far as fighting gang violence and it's that's why we're here is to announce that 25 members of two Milwaukee street gangs uh the West cly boys and the vet Street Gangsters have been indicted this week uh at least 22 of them are now in custody after a large large scale takedown yesterday when arrests were made and over a dozen searches uh were executed the takedown involved um uh with all of these law enforcement agencies over 300 law enforcement officers and resulted in the seizure of large amounts of crack cocaine a large number of firearms and a large amount of cash now as my office has said many times before in press releases press conferences and elsewhere the Department of Justice the FBI and obviously MPD is just we are really firmly committed to working together with these law enforcement Partners to fight what is really such a scorge that has come to this community in terms of gangs gang violence the guns that they're toing the drugs that they're pedaling uh the the just violence uh that they are uh committing out there in our community uh and and and just the impact that it has on the lives of the good hardworking people the city of Milwaukee and really all over the eastern district of Wisconsin so I'm really proud to be able to congratulate the Milwaukee Police Department uh the FBI and all of our law enforcement partners because they worked tirelessly for the last nine months on this investigation uh the case provides what I would say is just a great illustration of our Focus if there is somebody out there in this community that wants to pick up or use a gun that wants to Pedal drugs on the streets that wants to join a gang or Commit This the kind of violence that was associated with this uh organization they are going to be at the top of our priority list so to speak and they will be facing the same kind of 10year minimums 20e minimums and even life mandatory minimums that the defendants in this case are going to face if convicted of these crimes and the case comes on the heels of what are really a lot of similar investigations and prosecutions that we've done in the district um the Trey 8 mob the 1 n Nash Street Boys the Latin Kings the First Street first and keep Vice Lords and I can go on and on it just shows the kind of commitment and focus that we're going to have and I think demonstrates as I said before who is going to end up on the top of our investigative priority list so with that I'm going to turn it over to Chief Flynn thank you uh the vet Ste gangsters and the West cly boys have spread their criminal activity throughout our city not just their historic Turf uh they are Market driven and they were selling their wees wherever they could their original turf was one of our most violent areas of the city and that's 35th to 47th Street fet the Lisbon it's been volatile for years ever since the late 90s after yesterday's takedown there are 27 fewer drug dealers on the streets of Milwaukee there are 12 fewer guns on the streets of Milwaukee there's a kilo less of cocaine uh on the streets of Milwaukee but even more important than the amount of drugs seized gun seized or drug dealers arrested is the fact that a significant organized crime Enterprise has been taken down the effect that this group has had on the quality of life in the city of Milwaukee transcends the amount of guns and drugs they happen to be in possession of yesterday morning when they were visited by their law enforcement friends from the local and federal government now this takedown began as an investigation that started out locally uh some of our officers from the District 3 anti-gang unit um officers will savaji uh wi sa vagian and David bton developed information uh that certainly comported with intelligence developed with our Haida partners that indicated that there was something big going on and only the resources of the federal government working closely with the Milwaukee Police Department would be sufficient uh to make the kind of Dent and organization of this comp lexity that was necessary uh when you take down a group like this we find that they're involved with robberies they're involved in shootings they're involved in money laundering they even like every good um investor spread their risk across drug dealing and prostitution and other forms of criminal activity they poison their neighborhoods they destroy their neighbors they ruin the lives of the young people that share their space today what we're telling you is that uh working closely together the Milwaukee Police Department and the FBI and the DEA and the US Marshall's office the United States attorney's office and our friends and colleagues from rine and the sheriff's department um and the West Dallas Police Department and the south Milwaukee Police Department have taken a major step forward in in in returning this neighborhood uh back to the people who are trying to use it to raise a family and live a conventional life you know the essence of community policing is often been said to be Partnerships problem solving and prevention today we celebrate the Partnerships today we celebrate the close and collaborative relationships between the Milwaukee Police Department and its Federal Partners as we jointly take down significant criminal Enterprises while we continue our focus on crime fear and disorder I'm now going to turn the podium over to Mayor Barrett thank you very much Chief uh I live over on the west side of Milwaukee and I'm intimately familiar with the area that has been targeted uh the area from 35th to 47th Street from valit Street to Lisbon and there are a lot of good people who live in that neighborhood there are a lot of people who are struggling because of poverty uh to get through their lives to raise their children and they want to raise their children in a safe neighborhood and unfortunately because of these gangs it has been more difficult for them to do that we are here today because we are on the side of those good people who live in this neighborhood who want to raise their children in a safe neighborhood we're on the side of those struggling families who understand that even with the economic challenges we have that they're doing everything they can to pay their bills but they need help they need help so that the gang members who have overtaken this neighborhood are wiped out I am particularly proud to stand here today with our partners uh with the FBI with our partners at the US attorney's office with our partners in all the other um law enforcement agencies and in particular with the great men and women of the Milwaukee Police Department who are out there yesterday morning risking their lives so that the good families who live in these neighborhoods can raise their children there this is about two things it's about the strong partnership the proactive partnership that has been created in this community between Federal and local law enforcement that's a tremendous partnership a partnership that's getting stronger and stronger each month and it's also about making this city safe as a chief said there are numerous individuals who felt that they could in essence use local businesses to launder some of the proceeds of their crimes we we're going to end that as well we're going to make sure that the neighbors in the neighborhood this neighborhood and the people who live in this neighborhood can have a neighborhood that they can be proud of that's what this is all about today and again I'm thankful to all our partners who have done just a tremendous job in a proactive fashion to make Milwaukee safe over to the FBI well rather than and go into uh again thanking everybody all the federal state and local partners that participate in the Haida and address these violent gangs um I've been here a little over two years and and the heida during that time I think has put well over a hundred gang members Behind Bars um they've been a cancer to this city and hopefully through our partnership here we're giving them a new residence and that's going to be the residence of federal prison so um my thanks to everybody here again