At least 207 people have been charged with a federal crime, and more than 1,000 arrests have been made in major metropolitan cities since the Department of Justice launched Operation Legend in July, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced on Wednesday.
Nearly 400 firearms have been seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Barr launched Operation Legend on July 8 as “a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime,” the DOJ said in a release.
It was named in honor of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while he slept in the early morning of June 29 in Kansas City, Mo. Last week, a Jackson County prosecutor announced second-degree murder charges against his suspected killer, 22-year-old Ryson Ellis, who was being held in Tulsa County Jail.
First launched in Kansas City, Operation Legend expanded to Chicago and Albuquerque on July 22, to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee on July 29, to St. Louis and Memphis on August 6, and to Indianapolis on August 14.
The latest figures on charges and arrests do not include Indianapolis, whose operation was first announced last Friday. The arrests of more than 1,000 people include those charged in state and local courts.
In Chicago, a total of 61 defendants have been charged with federal crimes. Sixteen have been charges with federal charges in Albuquerque, 32 in Cleveland, 22 in Detroit, 11 in Milwaukee, 15 in St. Louis, and 7 in Memphis, Tenn.
The charges include illegal possession of a firearm, distribution of narcotics, drug trafficking, bank robbery, illegal re-entry of an alien in connection with a widespread drug conspiracy, and making false statements to arms dealers.
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