The early half of the twentieth century in the United States saw the continued rise of international criminal syndicates, and their continued growth in American cities.[7][5] Plethora federal agencies were created to combat this growth of crime, whereas in the nineteenth century, the majority of investigations into organized crime had been performed by the private detective agency, The Pinkertons.[8] At one point, the Pinkertons had more reserve officers than the standing Army of the United States, and this was seen as a potential hostile force.[8] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was created early in the new century, and other agencies followed. With the new century seeing the majority of investigations falling into the hands of federal agents, the investigating authority into criminal networks no longer belonged to the highest bidder, but to the Executive and Legislative branches.[8][5]
After the successful efforts of the Kefauver Committee to investigate organized crime in the United States, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, and others in law enforcement saw the importance of establishing specifically dedicated efforts to combat the growing influence of the Cosa nostra and other crime syndicates.[7]
In 1951, in response to the Kefauver hearings, the Criminal Division created the Special Rackets Unit.[5] This unit would eventually become the OCRS.[5]
California had been a rare exception to the growing criminal influence, and by 1953, both Warren Olney III and Earl Warren – who had been two key figures in California's anticrime fight – were now working for the federal government. Warren was assigned to the Supreme Court, and he brought Olney with him to run the Criminal Division for Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr.[9]
When the OCRS was created in 1954 under the direction of Criminal Division Chief Warren Olney III and Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr., it had no legislative mandate, but it still began to organize information on criminal networks.[7] According to Brownell, when it was created it was a "small intelligence function."[7] However, it did not take long for the section to make progress against racketeering and labor racketeering, with the cooperation of the Special Anti-Crime Section (SACS).[10] In this early era, with only a few attorneys, OCRS gathered and analyzed information on organized crime and racketeering, while also acting as a clearinghouse for information from various investigative agencies.[7] By 1957, the OCRS was beginning to coordinate with federal agencies to map crime families and syndicates to geographical areas.[7]
Brownell's time was too focused on other areas of criminal justice, however: the fight to create a Civil Rights Act in opposition to the Southern coalition, and combatting internal security penetrations in the federal government were more pressing to him.[7] Brownell retired from federal service in 1957, after a tireless fight alongside Olney to create the Civil Rights Division. Olney was appointed Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts in 1958. However, the section they fostered into existence remained after their departure.
The United States Organized Crime Strike Force was first created as the "Buffalo Project," and operated as the first "field force," of the OCRS in Buffalo, New York, and would later be known as the Buffalo Strike Force.[11] The Buffalo Strike Force coordinated the efforts of the OCRS and federal law enforcement agencies.[11] More than 30 people were on this team, under the direction of Bob Peloquin.[12][13] This team was composed of members from the Bureau of Customs, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and others.[14] By 1989, there were 14 Strike Forces across the country, operating as independent prosecutorial and investigative teams coordinated against organized crime. The Strike Forces were expanded after this first experiment for the purpose of finding and prosecuting illegal racketeering. They were formed partially in a congressional effort led by Senator Robert F. Kennedy, alongside the efforts of Ramsey Clark.[15]
In 1989, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh presented a proposal to the Director to begin the process of merging and consolidating certain efforts of the Criminal Division, including the Strike Forces.[5] on December 26, 1989, U.S. Attorney General Order 1386–89 was signed by Attorney General Thornburgh, and the Strike Forces were merged with the AUSAs.[16] The name "Strike Forces" at this time was changed to Organized Crime Strike Force Units (OCFSU).[17] Within the next six months, over 25% of the organized crime prosecutors in the Department of Justice tendered their resignations.[6] Further resignations followed.
The OCRS merged in 2010 into the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VRCS) and the Organized Crime and Gang Section (OCGS).[2]
