In this episode, retired FBI agent Michael Clarke and retired DEA agent Jack McFarland review their 2004 joint FBI and DEA investigation of “The Commission,” a violent criminal gang operating in the U.S. Virgin Islands which includes St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, whose members were convicted in federal court for numerous crimes including racketeering, murder, robbery, and drug trafficking. The case was conducted under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, The Safe Streets Task Force initiative, and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.
“That was the turning point from my understanding of the Commission, where they got bolder and bolder. They started to think that they were untouchable, especially from the territorial authorities because Virgin Islands police officers, right? Unlike FBI agents and DEA agents, their whole families are isolated on those islands. Police officers that had families and extended families on the islands. They’re like, how can I aggressively go after these guys if it’s going to put my family in jeopardy? Then you saw this escalation of the commission getting more violent.”—Retired FBI Agent Mike Clarke
FBI Special Agent (Retired)
Michael Clarke
Aug 1988 – Jan 2020
Michael Clarke served in the FBI for 32 years. He began his in the Atlanta Field Office, focusing on background and fugitive investigations, organized crime, gangs, and public corruption and was the primary undercover agent on numerous long-term FBI investigations. He was also a SWAT operator and assistant team leader for 10 years.
After being promoted to supervisory special agent, he transferred to the San Juan Division where he was responsible for two FBI Resident Agencies, where he established the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) Annex in St. Thomas which incorporated over twenty federal, territorial and international law enforcement agencies, as well as supervised and trained the FBI USVI Safe Streets Task Force which embedded Virgin Island Police Department officers.
During this period, Michael was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan on a variety of FBI initiatives and completed additional overseas assignments in Haiti, Pakistan, Russia, and Jordan. He was later selected to open a new FBI Legal Attaché Office in the Balkans with territorial responsibilities for Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria where he initiated hundreds of foreign police cooperation matters and operational leads in all FBI priority programs including human trafficking and established and trained an Organized Crime Police Task Force in Albania.
At the end of that assignment, he reported to the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, at FBI Headquarters as the senior FBI liaison officer to the Joint Interagency Task Force South, United States Southern Command focusing on Department of Defense support to Interagency operations in South and Central America, taking part in countless joint interagency operations resulting in the disruption of major cartels and the successful prosecution of numerous criminal traffickers. Next, he transferred to the FBI’s New York Office and was assigned to an Extraterritorial Squad with responsibilities for Africa.
Mike was the lead FBI case agent investigating the attacks on the US Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the US Ambassador. For over seven years, Michael Clarke led a massive investigation resulting in the dismantlement of the Benghazi Attack Network (BAN) and the successful capture and prosecution of subjects responsible for the attacks.
During this investigation, Michael Clarke formulated and led strategic operations, participated in hundreds of interviews/ interrogations and conducted briefings at the highest levels of USG. Michael Clarke was awarded the 2018 Attorney General’s Award and 2020 FBI Director’s Award for his leadership in this investigation.
Upon his retirement from the FBI, Michael founded Tradewinds Investigations LLC, a licensed and insured private security firm based in Arlington, Virgina offering customized investigations, security assessments and consulting services, specializing in death investigations, child custody and exploitation inquires, police procedure reconstruction evaluations and domestic/international security and due diligence consulting and training.
Michael Clarke is a Senior Law Enforcement Advisor with the US Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) and STRAIFE. He is a guest speaker at Georgetown and American University Law Schools, Washington, DC, and serves as Executive Director of the Private Investigators Association of Virginia (PIAVA).
DEA Special Agent (Retired)
Jack McFarland
1988 – 2019
Jack McFarland is a former high school teacher and football coach, who served in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for 32 years. His career took him from the coal country of Pennsylvania to the streets of Allentown and the Philadelphia Division Offices, and then the DEA Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where he trained DEA agents and local, county, state, and international law enforcement personnel in tactics.
Jack was then promoted to a Supervisory Special Agent position at the St. Croix Resident Office in the Caribbean Division, where he led teams of Special Agents and Task Force Officers in the drug trade of the Americas.
After fulfilling his tour of duty in the Caribbean Division, Jack was transferred back home to the streets of Baltimore and finally to DEA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he served in the Inspections, Diversion, and Operations Divisions as a Supervisory Special Agent.
Since his retirement, Jack continues to be part of the law enforcement community as a mentor, advisor, podcaster, and inspirational speaker. He can be reached via his website, JackMcFarlandDEA.com.
“We were very concerned that if the commission crew, they’re going to go after a local, they’d be really stupid to go after a fed. Well, guess what? They got stupid. That’swhen it hit the fan. Sometimes you have to teach a dog a new trick, and that’s what we did. We ended up teaching them how to calm themselves down.”—Retired DEA Agent Jack McFarland
The following are links to news articles about the violent crimes perpetrated by members of the Commission on the islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas in 2004:
St. Thomas Source 1/7/2004: POLICE IDENTIFY SUNDAY NIGHT’S SHOOTING VICTIM
St. Thomas Source – 8/26/2004: HITDA Getting Lots of Calls about ‘the Commission’
St Croix Source – 5/5/2005: One Killed, Another Injured in Unrelated Shootings Thursday
St Croix Source – 7/9/2005: One Killed, Another Injured in Unrelated Shootings Thursday
VI Source Network – 2/25/2012: Accused Cop Killer Extradited to St. Croix
To learn more about island-based drug gang investigations listen to FBI Case File Review episode 370: Martin Suarez – Inside the Cartel, Dismantling a Colombian Narco-Empire, where he went undercover in Puerto Rico.
.
