Despite opposition in Congress, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh insists on merging all federal organized crime strike forces into 23 U.S. attorneys offices around the country next fall.
That's a big mistake. It seldom pays to tamper with success.On paper, the Thornburg plan admittedly looks good. The objective is to eliminate duplication of effort and increase efficiency by making the strike forces answer to local U.S. attorneys instead of to Washington.
The trouble is that those local prosecutors aren't likely to stick to long-term investigations because they are appointed to terms lasting only four years.
Any such tendency would fight the fundamental philosophy behind the strike forces, which were created in 1974 as an elite corps that would combat organized crime with long-term investigations that could cover more than just one district.
As now set up, the strike forces have been remarkably successful. Take, as just one case in point, the record of the strike force in Brooklyn, New York. Newsday reports it has "nailed a U.S. senator and six congressmen in the Abscam case . . . won convictions against 75 mobsters . . . brought down 53 union officials for racketeering . . . and successfully prosecuted 200 businessmen for their dealings with organized crime."
The clincher, if one is needed, is that the Brooklyn strike force has produced enough revenue through fines, forfeiture and restitution to more than pay for the cost of operating the unit during the past two decades.
By waiting until next fall to put his proposed changes into effect, Thornburgh is giving congressional committees a chance to hold hearings on his plan. Though he can proceed even if Congress objects, Thornburgh would be wise to let the strike forces alone.