{"id":569321,"date":"2018-04-26T15:18:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T21:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=569321"},"modified":"2018-04-26T15:22:59","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T21:22:59","slug":"apd-detective-led-federal-agents-to-memphis-mob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/apd-detective-led-federal-agents-to-memphis-mob\/","title":{"rendered":"APD detective led federal agents to &#8216;Memphis Mob&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_66499\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/feverblue\/7550299240\/in\/photolist-cvcfV7-92Yxoj-92VjYH-2VqKFS-ffJffR-4CaESc-5bzjuB-ffJfwP-dod3rs-vhH3xU-8dvo8A-dobxRi-5212Qa-4rhV4Y-rdqjy-4csaJH-92Vpev-5ZPuxr-92Vi5T-oA9iY-4csbqT-naNysN-ncTcyE-ncR2eX-naNwQz-ncRh5B-ncTfxA-ncQYji-ncTdnJ-naNA6Y-naNw94-ncTeWq-naNxKb-ncRiBz-naNyi5-92Vhxg-naNtLd-naNsTG-ncRcu4-naNtiQ-ncT8Z5-ncQU5g-dobAiR-uCxbrJ-dobHWq-dobHL5-dobH27-dobHpf-4cs92R-4rdPea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-66499 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-771x431.jpg\" alt=\"Albuquerque\" width=\"771\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-771x431.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-336x188.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-1170x654.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Will Keightley \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Albuquerque at sunset.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>How and even whether the Albuquerque Police Department was involved in a 2016 undercover federal drug and gun sting has lingered for more than a year under scrutiny from legal scholars, defense lawyers and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/07\/feds-sting-ensnared-many-abq-blacks-not-worst-of-the-worst\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Police and city officials under previous Mayor Richard Berry\u2019s administration\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/08\/25\/abq-city-councilor-wants-congressional-investigation-into-atf-sting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">denied the department was involved<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with a new mayor at City Hall and new leadership at APD, the city is acknowledging the department had a \u201cminimal role\u201d in the sting, which was led by the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF). That included \u201ccross-commissioned\u201d APD officers who have long worked as part of an ATF task force assisting the federal agency during the operation.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/04\/24\/apd-detective-led-federal-agents-to-memphis-mob\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Read more<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/good-police-work-or-racial-profiling-how-so-many-blacks-were-arrested-in-federal-sting-in-abq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Good police work or racial profiling?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/atf-agent-touted-stings-righteous-targets-in-email\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ATF agent touted sting&#8217;s &#8216;righteous targets&#8217; in email<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/legal-wrangling-could-pose-challenge-to-proving-racial-profiling-claims-against-atf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Legal wrangling could pose challenge to proving racial profiling claims<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Whatever the size of APD\u2019s role, the department\u2019s involvement appears to have led, in part, to one of the more controversial aspects of the sting operation: the arrest of black people at a rate highly disproportionate to their population in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the black people targeted in the sting came to the ATF\u2019s attention through APD\u2019s involvement, Special Agent Russell Johnson testified during a hearing for two of the defendants in October.<\/p>\n<p>As the operation was beginning to pick up steam in April 2016, APD detective Vic Hernandez handed Johnson a pair of documents purporting to show past and current members of the \u201cMemphis Mob,\u201d a group of people, some with ties to Tennessee, APD had classified as a street gang in the latter part of the last decade, according to Johnson\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n<p>The agent testified that those lists, along with \u201cintelligence\u201d gathered by ATF agents and informants, ultimately led the agency to target and arrest at least 16 people in the sting. Fourteen were black, and two were Hispanic, Johnson testified.<\/p>\n<p>In court, federal prosecutors displayed a chart with those people\u2019s names and identified them as members or \u201cassociates\u201d of the \u201cMemphis Mob.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told NMID that Johnson\u2019s team had made a \u201csolicitation about the Memphis Mob\u2019s activities in Albuquerque.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAPD provided the information,\u201d he continued.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Gallegos did not make detective Hernandez, or anyone in his chain of command at the time of the ATF sting or current department leadership available for interviews for this story.<\/p>\n<p>Defense lawyers and former APD detectives have questioned whether the \u201cMemphis Mob\u201d even exists as a gang, although Gallegos said the department still occasionally comes across members.<\/p>\n<p>He declined to comment on statements made by the previous administration about APD\u2019s involvement in the operation.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Tim Keller, who took office Dec. 1,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/09\/15\/video-federal-sting-draws-responses-in-abq-mayors-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was openly critical of the ATF operation on the campaign trail<\/a>\u00a0last year, saying it appeared to him that the agency had racially profiled the city in search of people to arrest. He described the tactic as \u201cwrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And according to Gallegos, APD expects a different style of cooperation and collaboration with federal law enforcement agencies under APD Chief Michael Geier.<\/p>\n<p>The new chief \u201cexpects the department to more fully engage with law enforcement partners in order to ensure operations are in line with Mayor Keller\u2019s vision for community policing,\u201d Gallegos told NMID. \u201cThat should include a proactive approach to prevent racial profiling, while ensuring APD has a role in identifying the most effective strategies to identify the most dangerous criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>APD&#8217;s involvement appears to have led, in part, to one of the more controversial aspects of the ATF sting operation: the arrest of black people at a rate highly disproportionate to their population in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,142,203,143,116],"class_list":["post-569321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-albuquerque","tag-crime","tag-law-enforcement","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}