Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard announced Wednesday he is using part of a $94 million settlement from Western Union to create a new border-crime unit devoted to prosecuting crimes committed by Mexican cartels.
The team will be made up of 10 to 12 prosecutors and investigators, many of whom will work out of the federal Intelligence and Operations Coordination Center, working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he said.
Earlier this year, Western Union agreed to pay $94 million to end a seven-year investigation into drug smugglers' use of wire companies to move money across the border. Western Union will pay $21 million of that to the state of Arizona and $50 million to the Southwest Border Anti-Money-Laundering Alliance, which includes Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
Goddard hired Richard Wintory to run the unit. Wintory, a two-time Arizona Prosecutor of the Year, led Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall's border-crime enforcement team until his resignation last week.
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LaWall and Goddard said they intend to coordinate efforts, noting there is enough border-related crime for both agencies.
The unprecedented resources being devoted to the problem, combined with improved relations with Mexican officials, will dramatically help efforts to dismantle the cartels that are smuggling people, weapons, money and drugs across the border, Goddard said.
Those efforts will include going after cartel assets, Goddard said.
Goddard insisted, however, that border reform is still the federal government's job. And he called President Obama's decision Tuesday to ask for $500 million in supplemental spending for more agents, prosecutors and technology a "big step in the right direction."
Goddard also announced that Assistant Attorney General Kip Holmes, who worked on the Western Union case, will be the executive director of the Southwest Border Anti-Money-Laundering Alliance.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
