WASHINGTON -- More than 10,700 fugitives were rounded up last month in a weeklong sweep by federal, state and local law officials, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Thursday.
The operation, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, was conducted from Oct. 22 to Oct. 28 in 24 Eastern states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Those arrested, Gonzales told reporters at a news conference, are considered "the worst of the worst of fugitive felons" -- wanted for murder, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking and other serious crimes.
They also include 971 convicted sex offenders who had failed to register with local authorities and 364 documented gang members, the Justice Department said. Authorities also seized more than 230 weapons.
Last month's activity was the third installment of Operation Falcon (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally). The previous two sweeps, in April 2005 and April 2006, resulted in almost 20,000 arrests.
Unregistered sex offenders were a particular target of this operation, which received a significant boost from a law signed by President Bush in July that makes it a federal offense to fail to register as a convicted sex offender.
