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IV. Agency Budget Summaries

UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS


  1. RESOURCE SUMMARY

  2. METHODOLOGY

    • The methodology for calculating this account's drug-related resources is based on the percentage of time spent on drug-related cases by United States Attorneys. Fiscal years 1998 and 1999 drug control estimates are adjusted to accommodate planned program changes and enhancements.

  3. PROGRAM SUMMARY

    • This budget supports the federal drug control priorities under Goal 2, "Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence" by supporting programs that reduce drug-related crime and violence, as well as programs that investigate and prosecute illegal drug manufacturers and traffickers.

    • The US Attorneys are the principal litigators for the federal government, operating 94 district offices. They have three major decision units that support drug-related missions: Criminal Litigation, Legal Education, and Management and Administration. US Attorneys investigate, prepare, and prosecute federal violations of controlled substances, money laundering, drug trafficking, and violent and organized crime. Each judicial district office maintains a Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee, which assesses local crime problems and solutions with other Federal and local officials. US Attorneys frequently cross-designate State and local attorneys during investigations and prosecutions, as well as provide on-going legal education.

  4. BUDGET SUMMARY

    1998 Program

    • The FY 1998 drug-related resources include $185.1 million and 1,495 FTEs which support Goal 2 of the National Drug strategy through prosecution activities.

    • In addition, the United States Attorneys anticipates receiving $77.4 million in reimbursable funding for its OCDETF activities.

    1999 Request

    • The FY 1999 request includes $207.2 million and 1,613 FTEs in drug-related resources which support Goal 2 of the National Drug strategy through prosecution activities. This represents an increase of $22.1 million over the 1998 level. Program enhancements include $8.9 million and 48 FTEs for US Attorney's Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs program. This enhancement includes the following components:

      • disrupt and dismantle major domestic and international drug organizations along all points of the production, transportation, and distribution chain;

      • make full use of financial investigative techniques to identify and convict drug traffickers;

      • continue implementation and expansion of the National Methamphetamine Strategy, in concert with the Drug Enforcement Administration, to disrupt production and trafficking; and

      • expand prosecutive support for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Five-Year Heroin Plan.

    • In addition, the US Attorneys anticipates receiving $79.8 million in reimbursable funding for its ICDE activities.

  5. PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS

    • In the Eastern District of Texas, two brothers were convicted on February 27, 1997, in a jury trial, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. The trial concluded a two and one-half year investigation of methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution in Texas that resulted in 12 conspiracy convictions of 10 years-to-life and three money laundering convictions. Nine major sources of methamphetamine who distributed in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana were convicted. Sentences imposed to date include mandatory life, eleven years and six months, and seven years and three months.

    • In the District of South Carolina, three major drug dealers were sentenced on September 4, 1997, to lengthy prison terms for their involvement in a cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking enterprise that shipped thousands of kilos of the drugs to five East Coast states and into Pennsylvania and Illinois. Two of the defendants have prior drug trafficking convictions and were each sentenced to life imprisonment. A third drug dealer pled guilty on the eve of trial and was sentenced to nine years in prison. The first defendant operated out of South Carolina, and the second defendant, his supplier, resided in Miami. The supplier, who shipped to numerous other dealers, made millions of dollars with which he purchased several expensive pieces of property, including lavish horse farms in Naples, Florida, and Louisville, Kentucky. The first defendant also purchased property, including a residence used for drug distribution which was commonly known as "The Compound" or "The Ranch." He was ordered to forfeit this property and $1.5 million. The defendants were the last of approximately 50 drug dealers convicted in the investigation.

    • In the Eastern District of Washington, a jury found three defendants guilty on January 29, 1997, of multiple counts of conspiracy to manufacture, import, and distribute methamphetamine from Canada to California. The defendants ran their drug manufacturing operation in several clandestine laboratories, including an underground laboratory on an isolated farm in Eastern Oregon, and used a complex distribution and profit-collection scheme. The defendants had ties to militia groups in the Northwest. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police assisted the Drug Enforcement Agency and California and Oregon law enforcement agencies in the investigation.