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Law and Famous Trials

Racial Segregation

What was Operation Falcon?

It was the code name for the mid-April 2005 roundup of more than 10,000 fugitives in one week; the coordinated nationwide effort was led by the U.S. Marshals Service. Together with officers from 960 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the marshals arrested 10,340 people who were wanted for various crimes, many of them violent. The operation took place during Crime Victims Rights Week. More than 150 of the fugitives were wanted for murder, 550 for sexual assault charges, and more than 600 for armed robberies. There were also escaped prisoners and criminal suspects among those arrested. Operation Falcon was a landmark in law enforcement because of the sheer number of arrests; previous coordinated efforts had nabbed only hundreds of fugitives.