-Okay. Good morning, everybody.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for giving me a few minutes
to get my notes together.
I want to start with some thanks,
and I'm joined by City Attorney Ann Davison and
Council President Sara Nelson from the City Council.
So, on behalf of the city of Seattle,
we want to thank, of course, US Attorney Tessa Gorman,
who will be speaking after me,
and I'll try to give her the introduction she is worthy of,
and certainly FBI Special Agent Mike Herrington,
DEA Special Agent in Charge David Reames,
IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Adam Jobes,
and SPD Captain Steve Strand. Thank you for joining us
and I want to thank all of you for being here this morning.
So, today, we are here to announce the arrest
and grand jury indictment of five people
who are part of a violent drug-trafficking organization
that was dealing fentanyl, methamphetamines,
cocaine, and heroin.
This drug-trafficking group was preying
on people experiencing homelessness
in our Chinatown-International District,
including at encampments and locations
such as 12th and Jackson.
They were taking advantage of vulnerable people
who were unsheltered,
which is both disturbing and unacceptable.
This kind of coordinated effort with the agencies
and the people standing with me
are exactly the kind of strategies
that we want to enforce.
I've said on other occasions,
we will arrest when we think arrest makes sense.
We will clean areas where they need to be cleaned.
And we will treat people experiencing crises
and mental illness and drug addiction as we should.
We've been clear all along that we need a dual public safety
and public safety approach
to make progress on the fentanyl crisis.
Focusing on arrests of people who are dealing drugs
and helping people suffering from addiction get the treatment
they need, this kind of dual strategy,
you've just seen it in action.
This was, of course, a coordinated effort
between the Seattle Police Department, the FBI,
the DEA, and assistance from the IRS.
Yes, there are a lot of letters in what I just described.
That was the kind of effort we needed.
This enforcement action shows the power of partnership,
collaboration, strategy, best practices.
And I'm grateful for this collaboration between SPD
and these federal agencies to take drugs and guns
out of our communities and make them safer.
At the end of the day, it is as simple as that --
strategy, coordination,
taking guns and drugs out of our community.
Again, I will end with a few words
after we hear from our speakers,
and I'm very excited to hear our US District Attorney,
Tessa Gorman, to speak more about the charges
that we're describing here today.
Tessa. -Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you so much, Mayor Harrell.
It is so discordant to be in this beautiful park
and to be talking about such extreme ugliness
that has ravaged this community.
This is such a rich community, rich in culture,
rich in language, rich in food, rich in experience,
rich in diversity, and this community has been under siege.
And we are here today to say
that we will not tolerate the widespread
and staggering criminal conduct
that is happening in this beautiful community.
I want to underscore that community health and safety
in Chinatown-International District
is a priority of the United States Attorney's Office
for the Western District of Washington,
and I'm so proud to stand alongside these partners today
and pledge again to you
to partner with the City of Seattle,
with our amazing Seattle Police Department,
and with these great federal partners to pursue
initiatives in this area in the coming year.
And there is no better example of these type
of community impact work
that we can do than the dismantling
of what we are calling the Jungle
drug-trafficking organization.
This is the impact work we do
and will continue to do in this area.
Now, oftentimes, I'm here talking to you
about cartel-connected drug organizations, and of course,
that remains a priority of the Department of Justice.
But what is also a priority is drug traffickers
who have significant impact on community safety,
who are animated by extreme violence,
and who prey upon the vulnerable,
and that is the case with the Jungle
drug-trafficking organization.
So, although the quantities of drugs are not the level
we see with cartel-connected groups,
the impact on this community has been staggering.
And it is incorrect to use the term
"low-level drug trafficking."
This is high-impact drug trafficking,
and it's important territory,
the Chinatown-International District, for drug traffickers.
And although this case started in the encampments under I-5,
very close to where we're standing,
and that's why we refer to this group
as the Jungle drug-trafficking organization,
the reach and territory of this group
runs throughout South Seattle.
And this territory is prime real estate for drug traffickers.
There have been turf battles for this control of this area.
So this is high impact for our community.
And the Jungle drug-trafficking organization preyed
upon some of our most vulnerable community members --
unhoused, people with substance use disorders,
people with mental health issues.
And this drug-trafficking organization not only
callously preyed upon these vulnerabilities,
they in fact charged more money for the drugs
to these vulnerable communities,
more money than these drugs sell on the regular streets.
And this drug-trafficking organization has a history
of violence and used violence
and the threats of violence to gain control
of the drug trafficking in this area.
Among these five defendants, we seized a staggering 17 firearms.
We seized AR-15-style rifles, semi-automatic pistols,
a firearm threaded to allow it to be equipped with a silencer,
short-barreled rifles, and body armor.
And so our messages today are clear.
We care deeply about what is happening
in Chinatown-International District,
and community health and safety
in this area is a priority for the Department of Justice.
We will prioritize drug-trafficking organizations
that prey upon the most vulnerable in our community
and we will prioritize drug-trafficking organizations
that are marked by violence,
including a demonstrated history of violence.
Our office has and will continue to
devote resources to these priorities.
'Celebrate Happiness' is engraved
on a beautiful George Lee lantern in this park.
And as I understand it,
Hing Hay literally translates to celebrate happiness public park
and figuratively translates to park for pleasurable gatherings.
We are committed to ensuring that this is a place
that our entire community can happily and safely gather.
I want to end by commending the law enforcement partners
who did such great, dedicated work
to make this drug-trafficking organizational dismantling
a reality.
Our colleagues at the Seattle Police Department,
FBI, DEA, IRS, and others
devoted so many resources
and their skills and talents to making this happen.
I now want to introduce to you Mike Herrington,
who's the FBI Special Agent in Charge who will say a few words.
Thank you so much.
-Thank you, Tessa, and good morning, everybody.
I'm Mike Harrington, the new Special Agent in Charge
of the FBI's Seattle Field Office.
For my first press event here in Washington,
I'm proud to highlight the work of the investigators
in a case they've been pursuing for over a year now.
Since November of 2023,
FBI, the Seattle Police Department,
and the Drug Enforcement Administration
have been investigating a local drug distribution network
with subjects residing in Seattle, Kent, and Newcastle.
What makes this case different from our typical drug takedowns
is instead of starting with a target
and intercepting large quantities of drugs,
we began with a particular neighborhood
experiencing a drug problem.
As we looked into that problem,
we found the same names were mentioned repeatedly.
These individuals were selling dose quantities
of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl
to numerous customers in the encampments
in high-drug areas of the International District
of Seattle, including the Jungle underneath I-5.
The defendants indicted today
are part of the Jungle drug-trafficking organization.
This group is not just trafficking dangerous drugs
into the Jungle, it is violent,
and the investigators believe they are responsible
for numerous shootings, robberies, and arsons.
The impact to the community is substantial,
not just because of the drugs seized in this case
but because this organization took advantage
of many people's addictions, homelessness,
and other vulnerabilities,
often using violence or the threat of violence.
It is no surprise
that the search warrants yesterday resulted
in the recovery of more than a dozen firearms.
We'll continue to pursue drug-trafficking organizations
exploiting vulnerable populations
and remove dangerous individuals from our communities
to keep Seattle safer.
When investigating a case like this, partnerships are vital.
The Seattle Police Department and DEA
played critical roles in this investigation.
I'd also like to recognize the contributions
of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation,
King County Sheriff's Office, and Tukwila Police Department.
And I'll now hand it over to Captain Steve Strand,
Seattle Police Department.
-Good morning.
I'm Captain Steve Strand from the Seattle Police Department's
Major Investigation Section.
I want to take a moment to thank both of our detectives
who worked tirelessly on this case,
as well as our regional partners from Newcastle,
Auburn, Kent, and Renton.
The Seattle Police Department will continue
to work tirelessly to address these drug trafficking
in order to make Seattle a welcoming
and safe place for all.
The removal of these narcotics and firearms
from the streets will do just that.
Now I'd like to ask Mayor Harrell
to come back up to the podium.
Thank you. -Thank you, Captain.
Mike, US Attorney -- District Attorney Gorman,
thank you very much for your leadership and your execution.
I'll close with a few remarks,
and then I will open it up for questions.
So many of you are following our strategies.
In November, we expanded our downtown activation team,
D-A-T or DAT Team, to the CID in Little Saigon,
taking a coordinated approach to disrupt
illegal and dangerous activities.
One early marker of our success in our execution
is the coordinated law enforcements with SPD,
where it led to over a dozen arrests
for selling narcotics in December
and 10 more arrests earlier this month.
We've made it clear that to protect all communities,
and I emphasize all communities,
we are not afraid to make lawful constitutional arrests
when they are necessary to keep our community safe.
And we are very proud of the partners
that you see here with the other agencies
that clearly demonstrate that same kind of commitment.
As part of our det work,
our outreach workers are also coordinating referrals
to detox treatment with new dedicated beds
at Valley Cities Recovery Place.
There, you will see beds serving up to 150 people.
Our city, Seattle, was the first city in the nation
to equip our firefighters and our EMTs with buprenorphine,
giving our first responders another tool to save lives.
In our budget we presented,
we invested over 14.5 million to address the opioid crisis,
a threefold increase in this strategy.
And that's why Council President Sara Nelson,
under her leadership, the City Council
are implementing policy
and legislative solutions,
and working with our City Attorney, Ann Davison, our city,
the other three-quarters of our city government
are strategizing to make sure we keep communities safe
and treat those who need treated.
You will also see that we are deploying new technology,
a pilot, to deploy more tools like CCTV cameras
to prevent and solve crimes in our neighborhoods
earlier this year,
and we've made lighting enhancements that you see
and environmental design improvements to deter crime.
Both from physical assets to policy implementations,
we will do what is necessary to save lives
and to treat people and to make arrests when they are needed.
I transmitted an ordinance to the City Council
focused on disrupting retail theft
and illegal vending of stolen goods in public.
That is a persistent challenge in the CID,
and we're going to confront that head-on.
The change, both within the city and the changes
that we are committed to with the partners standing up here,
we want the CID community and the entire city
to know these changes won't happen overnight.
We study best practices around the country.
We are committed to saving lives, treating people,
and making sure everything we do
is within the four corners of the law.
This is consistent, effective,
and a proactive strategy...
...that we are trying to describe to make sure
that people in this city and in this region
know we are doing it the right way.
And, with that, we'll entertain a few questions from the press,
should you have any.
-I've got a question.
-You're not a member of the press,
but I'll tell you what, hold tight, my brother,
and I may come to you.
Okay? You were going to get a shot at it, but --
-Sir. -Yes, sir.
I'll go here and then I'll come to you, sir.
-How did you first become aware
this was the group that was behind it?
-How did we first become aware of this particular demographic
that we targeted?
Would someone like to tackle that?
-I can take that one.
So we've been aware of the problem in this neighborhood
and this area for a while -- the drug problem,
the threats of violence.
So we began an investigation on that basis.
And as we went through the investigative techniques,
obviously, we're talking to people,
we're exercising our investigative techniques,
and the same five names kept coming up over and over again.
So that kind of solidified this investigation
into these individuals. -Thank you.
-Can you clarify that this is not cartel-organized?
Can you get into like the organizational structure
and why you think that [inaudible]
-Sure.
-So we -- the Department of Justice
often focuses on these large cartel-connected organizations,
and by that I mean organizations
that are trafficking in massive quantities,
you know, hundreds of kilograms, hundreds of thousands of pills.
This is not that organization.
The quantities aren't that high.
And what I'm trying to make a point
is that it still is impactful for our community.
So the quantities are lower
but it's no less impactful than
when we do these large cartel-connected organizations.
And that's our strategy,
is both making sure we're addressing cartel-connected
organizations, keeping drugs out of our community,
but also making sure that drug traffickers
who are trafficking in our communities
are held to account as well.
So it's a dual approach.
-Do you feel that it's a small number
of people having a large impact [speaking inaudibly]
-Well, I think in most crime,
we have a small amount of people doing a lot of the damage,
and certainly this group is an example of that.
This drug-trafficking organization,
we've charged right now five individuals
that had enormous impacts in this area
and that's why we targeted them at the US Attorney's Office.
-What was the value of the drugs?
-I'll turn that over
to Special Agent Dave Reames from the DEA.
Thank you.
-Hi. So we tend not to
put a monetary value on the drugs we seize,
but what I can tell you is the quantity of fentanyl powder
we seized in this case
was enough to potentially kill 1.7 million people.
That's an outsized influence for a group of five individuals.
-[ Speaking inaudibly ]
-The entire organization continues to be
under investigation.
-Mayor, speaking with business owners here,
physical change,
they kind of differentiate between --
they point to the mass stabbing a few months ago as like --
there is a turning point in the neighborhood.
As far as changes since then,
they point to street bullying and the bus stop clincher.
Any other changes, maybe unconventional changes,
that you're making?
-Well, I wouldn't say anything we're doing is unconventional
but I would say that we are trying to both
stay consistent on our strategies.
To reset community norms and safety norms,
you have to do it consistently.
So we think our strategies are working.
Now, we all know that people who are sick,
that are drug addicted, they also need treatment.
So one of the strategies
that you will see that is not unconventional,
it's very conventional,
is just continuing to build more places for people to go
when our police officers have to make arrests.
And that's an area that we want to increase this year.
We're looking at strongly working with the county,
working strongly on how we can enhance that,
and that's why I mentioned one of the facilities in my notes.
-Sir. -Yes, sir.
-What's the message that you want to send to the criminals
that frequent this area, that terrorize this area?
What is that message?
-Well, I'll say a message to anyone that's listening.
Seattle is a beautiful city. It's an Emerald City.
We treasure lives here.
We are a city of innovation.
And the poison in the streets should not be here.
Fentanyl, methamphetamine, this is poison
that are killing our children and our young adults,
hurting our businesses, and that is not Seattle.
That is not this region.
And we work collaboratively here.
I believe every person standing with me --
well, I have a little favoritism --
those with the city in particular.
In all seriousness, everyone standing with me today,
I'm proud to be one of their partners,
that we are standing up and saying in this region,
we want it to be safe. We want people to get treatment.
But the drug trafficking -- not here.
-Mr. Mayor, what's your message
to the residents of the CID?
They consistently tell me that they're scared.
They're living in fear. They're uncertain [inaudible]
-Yeah, so my message to the residents here
and the small businesses here is that we are here with you
right now today because we hear you.
We want this place to be the gem that it is --
vibrant, open businesses,
people walking here, spending their money, living here safely,
that this is a gem.
This part of the city is a gem.
It will not be unrecognized.
It will be recognized for the gem that it is
and we will continue with our strategies
on both arresting people,
cleaning up areas, and treating people aggressively.
And we hear you, again. We see you.
Thank you very much.
I think I'm going to shut it down.
We've got one more? Yes, sir.
-Could you speak to the bus situation?
I ride the bus about three days a week.
And so now there is a lot of talking
about making it more secure for drivers.
What about for passengers? [Inaudible] for the drivers,
but then the passengers are dealing with people
in the buses, maybe situations, very dangerous.
There is no fare enforcement.
There is very little private security.
It's a very messy situation.
-So the question has to do with Metro
and the County Transit System,
and we don't have a representative from the county.
But I'm going to hum a few bars
because I had a meeting with our King County executive yesterday,
Dow Constantine,
and he and I both agree with your concern
about transit ridership and safety.
So, in addition to protecting our drivers
that is critically important,
and we talked about barrier types of things
that you mentioned, we have to --
again, there's Metro Police, there's Seattle Police.
And so we have to improve how we coordinate
safety conditions on transit.
We put in,
I want to say, $8 million in our transportation levy
particularly for that effort to see what can we do
to protect transit riders.
My middle son is a frequent transit rider,
and I hear it all the time about some of the safety conditions.
So, again, we hear you.
We are putting money in the budget,
and I'm confident that the county will work with the city
on improving the ridership experience.
I share your concerns. Thank you very much.
Thank you again for being here.
Let's try to make it a great day.
Thank you very much. -Thank you.