ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY JOHN COLLINS SHARES NATIONAL AWARD FOR VIOLENT STREET GANGS CASE

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Assistant United States Attorney JOHN P. COLLINS, JR. has been named a winner of a 2007 Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) National Award for his prosecution of two violent street gangs in Westchester County. All told, 37 gang members were indicted and convicted by COLLINS and his team. He shared the award with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s White Plains Resident Agency Violent Crimes Squad and officers of the Westchester County Department of Public Safety and the Yonkers Police Department.

The 2007 National Investigative Award for Group Achievement was given to COLLINS as a member of the Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force and Prosecution Team. The citation reads:

In the fall of 2005 (the Task Force) began a long-term federal conspiracy investigation involving two particularly violent street gangs, Riverdale (Avenue) Crew and Jackson (Street) Crew. These gangs had struggled for territory control, each endeavoring to expand their drug dealing business.

Between 2005 and 2007, the gangs were believed responsible for 25 shootings, which held the community in fear. Working in partnership with the Yonkers Police Department, the task force focused all available resources and investigative techniques upon dismantling these gangs.

From November 2006 though January 2007, a federal grand jury indicted 37 gang members, all of whom pleaded guilty following arrest by the task force and local law enforcement agencies. Many handguns and large quantities of crack cocaine were removed from circulation and no longer pose a danger to citizens.

The success of this investigation has produced a noticeable decline in violent crime throughout the area and improved safety for the citizens of Yonkers and Westchester County.

Sharing the award with COLLINS were Special Agents KEVIN E. CONROY, MICHAEL HARKINS, STEPHEN TORTORELLA, DANIEL P. CONLON, KEVIN O’DONNELL, JOHN L. STUBING (retired) and Investigative Analyst KRISTEN DARLING of the FBI; KENNETH SCHAEFFER OF THE Westchester County Department of Public Safety; and MICHAEL DICAPRIO, KEITH OLSON, BRIAN MENTON and RAY MONTERO of the Yonkers Police Department.

COLLINS, an eight-year veteran, is assigned to the United States Attorneys Office in the federal courthouse in White Plains.