More than 6,000 arrests were made in the U.S. Justice Department’s Operation Legend, which involved sending federal agents to aid local police fight violent crime since July, Attorney General William Barr announced as he left office Wednesday. The arrests included 467 for homicide. More than 2,600 firearms were seized, and more than 32 kilos of heroin, 17 kilos of fentanyl, 300 kilos of methamphetamine, 135 kilos of cocaine, and more than $11 million in drug and other illicit proceeds were seized. Some 1,500 of those arrested have been charged with federal offenses. About 815 were charged with firearms offenses, and 566 with drug crimes.
Operation Legend was launched in Kansas City on July 8 and later expanded to Chicago, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Memphis and Indianapolis. “Operation Legend removed violent criminals, domestic abusers, carjackers and drug traffickers from nine cities which were experiencing stubbornly high crime and took illegal firearms, illegal narcotics and illicit monies off the streets,” Barr said. The project was named for four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while he slept on the morning of June 29 in Kansas City. The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) provided $60 million to fund 290 officers as part of Operation Legend, the Justice Department said.