BOSTON (WHDH) - In an interview Wednesday, United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling touted the success he’s had in taking some of the most dangerous and violent gang members off the streets of Massachusetts.
“MS-13 is probably one of the biggest success stories of the last year,” he said. “We have all but eradicated MS-13 in the Greater Boston area. We’re running out of MS-13.”
Lelling was also asked about the strange circumstances surrounding the prison death of notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger.
In October, the 89-year-old was beaten to death just after he was moved to a West Virginia prison. A pair of Massachusetts mobsters are suspected in his murder but no charges have been filed.
“There are a lot of non-public details about that event that I’m not at liberty to give you,” Lelling said of the Bulger investigation.
Lelling pointed to possible lawsuits as a reason not to reveal information on the decision by the Bureau of Prisons to transfer Bulger.
“No one thinks that mistakes never happen in a bureaucracy like that but beyond that, I can’t comment,” he said.
Lelling also said fighting the opioid crisis is one of his top priorities and that he’s working closely with immigration agents, even in so-called sanctuary cities, to capture dangerous drug dealers.
“If you’re helping them target the safety of their own streets, meaning drug traffickers, gun traffickers, gang members, where those individuals happen to be here illegally, you get buy-in from local police,” he explained.
Lelling said about 73 kilos of fentanyl have been seized in Eastern Massachusetts in recent months.
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