Investigators of the Year
Thomas DeVirgiliis
Detective II, New Jersey State Police
During a twelve month period commencing in July 2005, Det. II DeVirgiliis was the lead investigator for Operation Nine Connect. He demonstrated excellence in police work and displayed an uncommon dedication to duty that resulted in the dismantling one of New Jersey’ s most violent street gangs. Operation Nine Connect culminated with the arrests of more than ninety Bloods gang members. It was the largest gang sweep in New Jersey law enforcement history. It covered seven counties and included the cooperation of thirty one law enforcement agencies. Five hundred police officers canvassed the state in the roundup of high ranking members of the nine trey set of the Bloods street gang. Superintendent Joseph R. Fuentes said the case was an example of law enforcement “striking at the root of evil and not hacking away at its branches.”
Special Agent Donovan Williams and Special Agent Kendall Beels.
U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, New York Field Office
Special Agents Kendall Beels and Donovan Williams are recognized for their outstanding success in overall case management and exceptional investigative skill in shutting down a massive U.S. visa fraud ring operating in the tri-state area. What began in 2004 as a simple investigation into a single act of passport fraud became, through the tenacity of agents Beels & Williams, a major visa fraud conspiracy investigation promising a multi-million dollar asset forfeiture opportunity and involving some 350 sham marriages between U.S. citizens and Chinese nationals. With evidence in hand of a larger conspiracy, agents Beels & Williams resurrected the stalled investigation in 2005 by recruiting as an informant a new mid-level co-conspirator. Development of this intermediary was critical in reviving the investigation into the primary target. In February 2006, Beels & Williams had a guilty plea and cooperation agreement from a higher-placed coconspirator. Through the next months, Beels & Williams culled volumes of data from Immigration records in New York, visa application records in U.S. consulates throughout China, and state and city marriage records throughout the USA. Additionally, they kept track of the primary co-conspirators through electronic and up-close monitoring. Their investigative efforts alone warrant high praise. Even more noteworthy is that they managed and investigated this case while also serving the dignitary protection needs of the Diplomatic Security Service, protecting the countless foreign dignitaries that grace New York each year. Only the Secret Service and the Diplomatic Security Service know the supreme difficulty of maintaining a robust criminal investigations program with manpower that can be siphoned off without notice to staff a protection detail. Despite these recurring difficulties, Agents Beels & Williams stayed focused, kept others focused, and achieved outstanding results. On 23 August 2006, nearly all the co-conspirators were arrested in pre-dawn raids conducted across four states and four DSS field office jurisdictions. Beels & Williams drafted the operational plans, coordinated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, briefed over 50 participating law enforcement agents and officers, and executed a flawless arrest sweep of the highly elusive targets. It was the largest arrest operation of our calendar year at the DSS New York Field Office, and by far the most successful. Multiple search warrants executed the same day yielded evidence of illicit gains in the millions of dollars, adding very attractive asset forfeiture rewards to the upcoming criminal prosecution of the conspirators. This was a long, complicated, frequently interrupted investigation that agents Beels & Williams picked up, re-energized, and turned into our biggest case and arrests of 2006.
Russell Castrogiovanni
Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
James R. Antonino
Postal Inspector, U.S. Postal Service
During a twelve month period commencing in July 2005, Det. II DeVirgiliis was the lead investigator for Operation Nine Connect. He demonstrated excellence in police work and displayed an uncommon dedication to duty that resulted in the dismantling one of New Jersey’ s most violent street gangs. Operation Nine Connect culminated with the arrests of more than ninety Bloods gang members. It was the largest gang sweep in New Jersey law enforcement history. It covered seven counties and included the cooperation of thirty one law enforcement agencies. Five hundred police officers canvassed the state in the roundup of high ranking members of the nine trey set of the Bloods street gang. Superintendent Joseph R. Fuentes said the case was an example of law enforcement “striking at the root of evil and not hacking away at its branches.”