Has got convictions in 1000 cases, since 2009.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Preet Bharara, the US District Attorney in Manhattan, known primarily for taking down Wall Street big shots, has quietly been waging a very effective war against gang-related violence in New York City that has flown largely under the radar.
According to a report by the Daily News, Bharara has secured convictions in over 1,000 cases related to gang violence since late 2009, out of a total of 1,300 that his office has taken on. That’s a conviction rate of more than 77%, and many of those convictions have come via takedowns that Bharara and his office have orchestrated on neighborhoods known for being gang hotspots in and around New York City.
Bharara’s office was behind a raid in Yonkers, in August of 2011, which charged 87 people with gang-related violent offenses. The following year saw raids on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and another in the Bronx, which secured 13 and 43 charges, respectively. Last year, a raid at one of the projects in Harlem got 10 people charges with violent offenses.
Working in conjunction with the NYPD and other law enforcement agencies, Bharara and his team of prosecutors are responsible for a significant dip in gun and gang-related crime over the past few years. For example, shootings went down from 72 to 31 between 2011 and 2013, a decrease of nearly 57%. Murders also dropped from 22 to eight, or 63%, said the Mail report.
Bharara has implemented certain tactics with local police departments, which are credited with having been the driving force behind the drop in violent crimes. These tactics include: hiring more investigators to work with both police and prosecutors, conducting mass takedowns in order to nab more crooks instead of just one or two, keeping tabs on neighborhoods where takedowns have occurred to make sure the problems aren’t coming back, and focusing on low-income neighborhoods with a predominance of public housing.
With 52 large-scale takedowns under his belt, and a growing number of convictions, Bharara is cleaning up both Wall Street and the proverbial Main Streets of New York. While he admits that his top priorities remain financial crime and terrorism, he sees ending violent crime as something needs to be addressed as effectively as possible.
“We care about crime that occurs on Wall Street and terrorism is our highest priority,” Bharara says. “But this work is really important to us. It can have a tremendous impact on the lives of ordinary people.”