SCHUMER CALLS HUDSON VALLEY FBI DIRECTOR TO OFFER CONGRATULATIONS ON RAID, BUT SAYS TASK FORCE MUST REDOUBLE EFFORTS AND FINISH THE JOB

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer placed a personal phone call to FBI Special Agent James Galiano, the director of the FBI's Hudson Valley Resident Agency, and offered his congratulations on a successful raid that resulted in criminal charges for 10 members of the Latin Kings gang in Newburgh. Local, state, and federal law enforcement collaborated on yesterday's raid that comes after an aggressive effort by Schumer to focus federal law enforcement resources on the growing gang problem in the area. As a result, murdering and racketeering charges will be filed against members of the gang, which is notorious for peddling drugs on the streets of Newburgh.

"Thanks to the efforts of the Hudson Valley FBI office and local law enforcement, the streets of Newburgh became even safer yesterday," said Schumer. "We have seen the devastating effects that gangs have had on Newburgh, which is why I pushed the FBI to step up their efforts and put violent gang members behind bars. Yesterday's raid is proof that we're making progress. This is great news, and now we need to double our efforts and keep up the fight to get all of these drugpeddling gang members off the streets and behind bars where they belong."

Schumer has been a leader in the fight to combat growing gang violence in Newburgh.

Newburgh is facing an almost unprecedented spike in violence, and the intense financial difficulties faced by the community - as well as communities across the country - is only making dealing with the issue all the more difficult. Last year, Schumer pressed the Justice Department (DOJ) to provide additional resources and to send a high ranking Justice Department delegation to the City of Newburgh to work with and coordinate with local police to establish a plan of action to stem the rising tide of crime. Schumer toured Newburgh in June of 2010 with high ranking DOJ officials and visited three locations that had been particularly hard hit by violence.  Schumer's office is continuing to work with Newburgh, the Department of Justice and the FBI.   

At a Congressional hearing in April of 2010, Schumer secured a commitment from United States Attorney General Eric Holder to send a top level Justice Department official to Newburgh. Following up on a personal letter he sent to the Attorney General, Schumer pressed Holder to send a highlevel team from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to Newburgh to assess the situation, work handinhand with local law enforcement officials and recommend steps that would make the community safer and determine what federal resources can be brought to bear.  Holder also agreed to pay "personal attention" to combating the city's crime problem. 

Recently, the National Gang Intelligence Center's 2009 Gang Threat Assessment that found that gangs are increasingly migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural communities, expanding gang influence in most regions. Schumer has said that Newburgh illustrates this trend, and it must be reversed.