NCJ Number
72649
Date Published
1980
Length
242 pages
Annotation
The hearings include testimony of the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF); a group supervisor for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Miami, Fla.; and various law enforcement officials from New York and Florida, among others.
Abstract
According to the ATF director, the common denominator of organized crime is the violence inflicted upon society through the use of legal and illegal firearms and explosive devices, which are used for arson, murder, and intimidation of persons resisting advance of the criminals. During ATF's investigation of the statutes they enforce, they often obtain intelligence, evidence, and direct testimony reflecting the infiltration, control, and attempted takeovers of legal and illegal enterprises. ATF cooperates closely with the DEA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The testimony also discribes the current status of the ATF explosives tagging program in which identification taggants added to explosives during manufacture and recovered at a bomb scene will provide investigators source identification for explosives used in a bomb. ATF is also investigating the feasibility of untagged detection of explosives based on bulk physical properties discernible through dual-energy tomography. DEA testimony described drug-related organized crime in Florida and the involvement of a 'South American connection.' A chart of a model of drug trafficking organization is provided. In addition, south Florida law enforcement officers testified about drug-related homicides in their jurisdictions. Summaries of such homicides from 1978 to 1980 are included. Appended material include photographs and partial transcripts from three California cases concerning murder 'contracts' which point out the weakness in current Federal law and the need for a 'murder-for-hire' statute. An index of the subcommittee hearings is provided.