The Washington Square Park Drug Crackdown: “We’re Going to Do Our Job”

0:00 Speaker 1 Well, President Trump was here last week. He met with the mayor of the city of New York. President Trump has made it clear that he wants New York safe, safe, safe. And he has appointed a new United States attorney. We have with us today Jamie McDonald, and he’s the new U.S.

0:19 attorney for the Southern District of New York, approved by President Donald J. Trump, and I guess recommended by Jay Clayton, who is now, that was his old job, and now is the head of DNI. Well, Mr. McDonald, you as attorney, now you have a responsibility, a tremendous responsibility to keep New Yorkers safe. Give us an update of what the

0:46 heck is going on.

0:47 Speaker 2 Thanks, John, and thanks for having me on again. You’re absolutely right. A top priority for our office is keeping New Yorkers safe. And we don’t think about that as some vague concept. We think about it in very concrete terms.

1:01 Are New Yorkers able to go about their day-to-day lives free from being terrorized by dangerous drug dealers, by violent criminals, or by others who would do them harm? And a big piece of that is you’ve been working to clean up public spaces and protect New Yorkers in those public spaces, in particular the great parks of this city. We’re responsible

1:27 for the Southern District of New York. That’s Manhattan, the Bronx, and it goes up to Rockland, Putnam, Sullivan, Dutch, and Orange counties. But just this past week, we had a significant conviction at trial of one of the leaders of a drug dealing network in Washington Square Park.

1:48 Speaker 1 Tell us about it. Sure.

1:50 Speaker 2 So You know, everybody, all of your listeners know Washington Square Park, one of the many iconic places in this city. But for years, that beautiful park and the surrounding community had been overrun and overtaken by dangerous drug dealers. So about a year ago, October 30th, actually, the day before Halloween, and our guys worked day and night to try to

2:15 get those charges and those arrests done before Halloween so kids could trick-or-treat in the neighborhood. We charged more than 20 members of the drug dealing ring that had overtaken Washington Square Park. They were dealing all of the most dangerous drugs, including fentanyl. There had been more than 60 overdoses reported in Washington Square Park. And the community had

2:43 been terrorized by this drug dealing network for years and years. We charged the case, more than 20 defendants. Those defendants, by the way, had been arrested more than 80 times by the NYPD in connection with their drug dealing activities.

2:58 They were released. They’re not on federal charges. They were released, and they went right back out to dealing drugs in Washington Square Park. We charged them. They’ve now been convicted, more than 20 of them, in federal court. The defendant, who was a leader who was convicted this week, now faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison, up

3:19 to life.

3:20 Speaker 1 Wow. Wow. Now, let’s understand this. They were arrested 80 times and they were let go? At what point were they let go? Who’s responsible? The police arrested them and they turned them over to a district attorney. And what happened?

3:41 Speaker 2 And they were released. They were either released on bail, they were released on parole. A number of them were released in a number of different ways. But one thing that your listeners should know, John, is the NYPD did their job. The NYPD was making the arrests, and they were a critical partner for us in this. They investigated

3:59 the case with us. We also did it with the DEA, who’s been an incredible partner with us as well. But even after we brought the case, so we charged these guys. We got them off the streets. They’re in jail in the federal system. The NYPD dedicated the resources to continue to protect that community to make sure that there wasn’t

4:20 some rival drug network that came in and occupied the void. So the NYPD is now there, having cleaned it up with us, making sure that it stays clean. Arrests are down, 911 calls are down, 311 calls are down. It’s now an area where New Yorkers can take their families and then not be worried about their kids picking up a

4:43 needle or seeing an overdose in the park. or being harassed by one of these drug dealers.

4:50 Speaker 1 Now, President Trump wants New York to be safe. And he’s said that many, many times. And you, as an attorney, I guess it’s your responsibility to oversee what the heck is going on in New York. And many times when we were in the studio, I’ve said that if judges let go, release a known murderer... back in the streets

5:18 and he murders again, shouldn’t there be some kind of accountability?

5:23 Speaker 2 Well, John, we’re using every tool at our disposal to try to tackle this problem and make sure that folks are safe here in the city. We just talked about Washington Square Park. We’re targeting these areas. There will be other park cases to come. This is not something that’s stopping there. We’re using every tool that we have to

5:50 make sure that the city and the people in this city are safe.

5:54 Speaker 1 So me as a citizen of the city of New York and loving New Yorkers, I’ve lived here forever, I have to say thank you because if the local DAs or the local anybody in enforcement responsibility doesn’t do their job, then you’re their overseer.

6:14 Speaker 2 Well, one thing that folks can count on is we’re going to do our job. I’ll tell you, John, as part of our case, we put in evidence and proved that two overdose deaths were a result of the defendant’s activity at trial. One of them was an 18-year-old girl who had come here to do an internship, and her

6:36 dad had lived in the neighborhood for many years but moved out. So she came here from Colorado where her dad moved, He was there at the closing argument.

6:46 Speaker 1 He talked to us.

6:47 Speaker 2 It was really an incredible moment. And he told us a story that he got a letter from one of his old longtime neighbors who said, I didn’t realize that your family had been affected by this in this way.

7:01 I’m so sorry. But if it gives you any comfort, you should know that the neighborhood, as a result of these charges, has been cleaned up. It’s now safer than it’s ever been. Well.

7:15 Speaker 1 That is a real wow. Well, U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, please keep us informed. We’d like you to come on as often as you feel you have something to report. And thank you for everything you do, and thank you for making New York safer.

7:31 Speaker 2 Thank you, John. Thanks for having me. Thank you.