SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Dozens of fugitives, most from South Jersey, were apprehended last month in a special sting operation by the US Marshals Service.
Nick Ricigliano, deputy commander of the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, said 65 arrests were made during the first three weeks of September in a mission called "Operation Rodeo." All of the people they apprehended were wanted on charges like homicide, sexual assault, robbery and weapons violations, among other crimes.
"We developed a target list based on cross-referencing people with active felony warrants and with gang databases," said Ricigliano. 33 of the fugitives were members of gangs including the Bloods, Crips and Pagans.
In addition to the arrests, investigators seized illegal drugs, firearms, and more than $3,000. Marshals said one fugitive, an unidentified 16-year-old wanted in Camden County, had a ghost gun in his possession when he was arrested in Lindenwold.
Another fugitive, 28-year-old Tyshone Carter, was wanted for a September homicide in Philadelphia. He was found hiding under a child's bed in Cherry Hill.
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Ricigliano told KYW Newsradio his team started planning the operation over the summer. "It took several weeks to develop our target list," he explained, "and then for our investigators to try to figure out where these individuals were."
He said his department holds about two to four of these operations a year. In order to make them work, they need proper funding.
"When we want to target an area, we will make a request to our headquarters for certain amount of funding," he said, "and then they will take a look at our operations plan. Then they will provide us with the funding if they think it meets their criteria."
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If approved, that money pays for police overtime and lodging for out-of-town law enforcement officers to apprehend the fugitives.
"At every police department and sheriff's department I go to in this state, the first thing they tell me is how undermanned they are and how they're short 15 people, they're short 12 people, they're short 30 people and they're the first responders, they have to respond to 911 calls," said Ricigliano.
"So sometimes the fugitive stuff doesn't get as much attention as they would like to devote to it."
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