New Drug Task Forces Begin Pursuit of Major Dealers in Southland

Stepping up pressure on drug traffickers operating in Southern California, top law enforcement officials announced the kickoff of a program Tuesday aimed at pursuing big-ticket distributors of cocaine and other illicit drugs.

The goal of the effort--called a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program by federal lawmakers, who provided funding--is to investigate and prosecute sophisticated drug traffickers and money launderers, officials told a news conference at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

The Southland program includes the formation of two task forces with a jurisdiction stretching from Los Angeles south to the Mexican border and east to encompass San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

About 14 agencies--including the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Customs and several local police organizations--will participate in a Southern California Drug Task Force headquartered in Los Angeles with satellite offices at Los Angeles International Airport and the Harbor.

The nation’s assistant drug czar, Stanley E. Morris, said the new task force approach “is a contribution” toward penetrating sophisticated drug trafficking organizations that have made the Los Angeles metropolitan area the nation’s cocaine distribution center.

The idea, said Morris, the deputy director of the President’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, is to “put pressure everywhere” on the traffickers, many of whom work with Colombia’s cocaine cartels.

But there are no quick answers to the drug problem in America, Morris said. The new task force approach “is not the solution,” he said, but “an effort to try to take the power away from the drug trafficking organization.”

Four other areas plagued with drug trafficking--New York, Miami, Houston and the Southwest border area between the United States and Mexico--will have similar programs. About $82 million in federal funds authorized by Congress last year will underwrite the operations.

Lourdes G. Baird, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California (Los Angeles), announced that Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven G. Madison will coordinate the new anti-drug trafficking effort here.

Robert C. Bonner, the DEA administrator in Washington, said the new program is not just another layer of bureaucracy.

“It brings together a task force of collective expertise,” said Bonner, the former U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles. “We will be able to pursue major drug and money laundering organizations. I think you’re going to see an increased number of sophisticated narcotics investigations.”