Turning Up The Heat On Ice Dealers
Anthony Williams, the new Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent In Charge, is determined to stop the flow of crystal meth into Hawaii, and praises cooperation from other law enforcement for several recent busts
By Chad Pata
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The recent seizure of weapons in ice busts has
Williams and his agent worried that rival drug gangs
may soon start shooting at each other
Considering all the media coverage of Hawaii’s Ice Epidemic, it is with little fanfare that the man in charge of solving the problem took over post. But that’s just the way Anthony Williams, Drug Enforcement Administraion Special Agent In Charge SAC), has always liked it.
“It’s never been my style to worry about being in the limelight, my people know rather be behind the scenes,” says Williams, who took over as the head of DEA in Hawaii last month. “But I want people to understand that we are here and definitely making a difference.”
He has not wasted any time. In his first few weeks on the job, the DEA — working with officers assigned from other law enforcement agencies, including HPD and Sheriffs — have already seized more than 20 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, a million dollars in cash and a variety of weapons.
“We have had lots of success here, but a lot of it is not known because we have to do things in a certain way,” says Williams, who must speak nebulously about many of the cases for one simple reason: Officers’ lives are in jeopardy.
He adds: “We are identifying and dismantling a lot of organizations and it’s going to increase.”
Though the job is daunting — according to state Department of Health statistics, Hawaii has the highest rate of adults who have tried ice — Williams has been encouraged by the attitude and commitment of the local agencies that are joining in his fight.
“Being out here in Hawaii I have met so many people with the same mentality as me — trying to make a difference for our youth,” says Williams. “I’ve been a lot of places and I’ve never enjoyed this much cooperation between federal and local authorities.”
Considering all the media coverage of Hawaii’s Ice Epidemic, it is with little fanfare that the man in charge of solving the problem took over post. But that’s just the way Anthony Williams, Drug Enforcement Administraion Special Agent In Charge SAC), has always liked it.
“It’s never been my style to worry about being in the limelight, my people know rather be behind the scenes,” says Williams, who took over as the head of DEA in Hawaii last month. “But I want people to understand that we are here and definitely making a difference.”
The recent seizure of weapons in ice busts has Williams and his agent worried that rival drug gangs may soon start shooting at each other
He has not wasted any time. In his first few weeks on the job, the DEA — working with officers assigned from other law enforcement agencies, including HPD and Sheriffs — have already seized more than 20 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, a million dollars in cash and a variety of weapons.
“We have had lots of success here, but a lot of it is not known because we have to do things in a certain way,” says Williams, who must speak nebulously about many of the cases for one simple reason: Officers’ lives are in jeopardy.
He adds: “We are identifying and dismantling a lot of organizations and it’s going to increase.”
Though the job is daunting — according to state Department of Health statistics, Hawaii has the highest rate of adults who have tried ice — Williams has been encouraged by the attitude and commitment of the local agencies that are joining in his fight.
“Being out here in Hawaii I have met so many people with the same mentality as me — trying to make a difference for our youth,” says Williams. “I’ve been a lot of places and I’ve never enjoyed this much cooperation between federal and local authorities.”
He’s not kidding when he says he has traveled. His work with the DEA has taken him from India to Jamaica. He originally hails from Philadelphia, where even as a kid he knew he wanted to catch bad guys.
“I was always the cops-and-robbers-type kid, I loved The Untouchables and all those cop shows,” says Williams. “Its funny because I look back at my first resume, when I was 12 or 13, my aspirations back then, and I didn’t realize this until I got older, was to be a federal law enforcement officer.”
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