Historic Homeland Security Task Force New York targets foreign terrorists, cartel members, and criminal organizations with ties to Big Apple

Date: Dec. 10, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

NEW YORK — Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI); Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Ricky J. Patel, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York Field Office joined federal partners on Dec. 10 to announce the establishment of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) New York.

Co-led by HSI and the FBI, the HSTF New York will serve as a first-of-its-kind task force that utilizes a whole-of-government approach to identify, disrupt and dismantle criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) in New York and throughout the United States.

“We hear what New Yorkers want: they want our parks, schools, housing developments, subways, and streets to be safe and feel safe,” said U.S. Attorney Clayton. “Together with our federal partners and the NYPD, the Southern District is committed to delivering safe streets and a better quality of life for all New Yorkers. In the last year, we have collectively investigated and charged: members of Tren de Aragua and many other brutally violent gangs with murders, sex trafficking, and narcotics distribution; over a dozen narco-terrorists and members of state-sponsored drug cartels with narcotics distribution; foreign nationals with fentanyl distribution; and most recently, 18 defendants in a wide narcotics sweep aimed at cleaning up Washington Square Park. The women and men of the SDNY are actively engaged in similar matters and are committed to making New York safer each and every day.”

“The historic collaboration of this Task Force strengthens the mission to protect our citizens by standing between our Districts and the transnational criminal organizations, human smugglers, and cybercriminals who target us with drug trafficking, violence, and economic harm,” said U.S. Attorney Nocella.

“We are proud to have entered into this agreement with the New York Homeland Security Task Force as a partner and as the third agency on the Executive Committee. Whether it is money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, a complex financial fraud, or leveraging our tax authority, we will continue working in tandem with all the agencies under the HSTF umbrella to take criminals off the street and dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis. “Special Agents with IRS Criminal Investigation have long been known for lending their financial and tax expertise to complex investigations. With this agreement, our special agents will continue to proactively leverage our knowledge and unique skills for the betterment of this new team.”

“FBI New York proudly stands alongside our federal, state, and local partners to co-lead with HSI New York the New York Homeland Security Task Force. By bringing the full force of the federal government, this task force will dismantle designated terrorist enterprises who are responsible for trafficking lethal drugs and weapons into our communities. Through unified partnership, we will continue to defend the homeland from evolving threats, safeguard critical infrastructure, and strengthen national resilience,” said FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Raia.

"The people of this city deserve to know that special agents and investigators at every level of law enforcement are standing side-by-side and collaborating under one roof, so that New Yorkers may go about their lives safely and comfortably,” said HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Patel. “The HSTF New York and HSI, as its co-leader, are driving coordinated investigations that strike at the heart of criminal networks and schemes both here and abroad. With unity as our strength and coordination as our advantage, we will outpace, outsmart, and outmaneuver transnational criminal organizations at every turn."

The mission of the HSTF is to identify and target for prosecution transnational criminal organizations engaged in diverse criminal schemes involving a myriad of federal violations both within the United States and throughout the world. Violations include, but are not limited to drug trafficking, money laundering, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, alien smuggling, homicide, extortion, kidnapping, weapons trafficking, and other TCO- related violations where there is or may be a federal investigative interest.

HSTF New York will primarily focus on investigating TCO Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), and is working towards the disruption and full dismantlement of these criminal organizations, combining the full strength of the investigative and intelligence forces of the U.S. government. One key component of the HSTF is the ability to combine information from our intelligence community partners with our law enforcement investigations to increase our effectiveness in combatting and dismantling the threat.

This task force model allows state, local, and federal law enforcement to extend our reach, share intelligence in real time, and target these threats at every level.

HSTF New York is comprised of law enforcement personnel from state and local law enforcement, including the NYPD, and federal entities from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of Treasury, the Department of State, the Department of War, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Labor. Participating agencies include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Diplomatic Security Service; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the New York City Police Department (NYPD); U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Marshals Service – Eastern District of New York; U.S. Marshals Service – Southern District of New York; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the U.S. Secret Service.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.