A New Feature on the Sunday Ops Report: "Chasing the Case"

Plus: Why does the left REALLY love the gang-bangers?... Hey, remember that "nobody is above the law" thing?... Chicago and Little Rock face reality... And the internet is indeed forever

Apr 27, 2025

Gang, today we debut a new feature here at The Ops Desk: “Chasing the Case,” a series of mini-documentaries we’ll be rolling out on unusual, major, and important cases made by various agencies across the country... told by the actual investigators who did them.

Today: Operation Knockout.

Now, there are big cases — and there are big cases.

After four years of investigation, wiretaps, surveillance, arrests, and debriefs, a massive task force of over 1400 agents and cops took down nearly 400 perps in the single biggest gang takedown in history.

You’ll meet Special Agent Maureen O’Connell, the FBI case agent at the center of it all.

*(FBI Special Agent Maureen O’Connell, retired)*

So join us over on the pod for our first “Chasing The Case” mini-documentary, as we cover what it was like to be inside a caper of this size — direct from the woman who was there.

Click below for a preview… or HERE for the whole thing.

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The Left Hearts Gangsters. Why?

So you’ve heard by now of the Wisconsin judge that got arrested for (allegedly!) obstructing ICE agents from serving a warrant on an illegal who was appearing in her state court on assault charges (with women victims, naturally).

*(Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge, Hannah Dugan)*

Now, we’ve hit a point where we have to wonder: Could it be possible for these judges and sanctuary city prosecutors to have more completely lost sight of their role in protecting the America public?

As President Trump goes to war with the liberal colleges that are turning out unemployables who graduate with $200,000 in student loans and a hatred of western civilization, one of the things you don’t hear much about is how hyper-left the law schools are. They are, if anything, even more radical than the undergrad institutions.

And in a nation of laws, that means inculcating in young people who will eventually be running things a default progressive perspective destined to veer to lunacy.

And as characters like Judge Dugan in Wisconsin and Judge Cano in New Mexico and Senator Van Hollen of Maryland all step up to fight for the ability of migrant criminals to remain in America, you’ve got to ask yourself: Why?

And PLEASE don’t buy their “rule of law” argument. These are the people who watched with approval as 11 million illegals crossed our southern border during the last administration — and who also were willing to let Hunter off the hook, to target Donald Trump with lawfare, etc, etc.

Nope — it’s not some high-minded adherence to constitutional principals. Don’t buy that. It is — as it always is — about power.

The left has to hold the line on the potential mass-deportation of the approximately 20 million or more illegals who have flooded America over the last decade because of the census rules.

While illegals still can’t vote — which remains the Holy Grail for the Democrats — they do get counted in the census. And the census is the basis for apportioning the House of Representatives.

So if the Trump administration was indeed successful in even starting the process of wholesale removing the nation’s illegals, estimates are that by the time the process was over the Dems would be down near to 30 seats, due to the emptying of the blue cities. And they would be unlikely to regain control of the House anytime soon.

So the left is going to throw every roadblock at this they can. Because if Trump and Homan are successful in getting the ball rolling on “the worst, first”… can the rest of the illegals be far behind?

So even the worst gangsters will be ferociously protected by the left. And a major threat to their efforts is effective law enforcement — against Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Mexican cartels — all of whom have been designated terrorist groups by Trump.

Because if good cases are made against these groups, eventually the connections between these groups and foreign government entities will emerge. It is already strongly posited that TdA has close ties to Venezuelan government entities. And does anyone think the Mexican government is not in-cahoots with the organizations running that nation’s most lucrative export?

If these connections are demonstrated through the phone dumps and debriefs that result from good cases, Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act will be validated. The outward-bound floodgates would open.

For the Dems: disaster.

Rush Limbaugh used to make an important point. The left doesn’t need some directive to go out from DNC Central. That’s not necessary. They know what to do. They’re all operating off the same sheet of music, and they never break lockstep.

So expect the entire left —from the so-called “moderates,” to the progressives, the judges, the prosecutors, the academics, and the media — to do everything they can to hold the line against the Trump administration’s plan for mass deportations. And against effective policework.

Their political future depends on it. And you’re safety is secondary.

… Lest you be judged

The “no one is above the law” crowd has had quite a few bad weeks.

First their darling and Trump antagonist Letitia James has run into quite a pickle with her shady real estate dealings. Incredibly, it appears that James was doing some of the same things she accused Trump of doing – and quite a bit more.

undefined — *(The NYS AG, back when she was still thought she was untouchable)*

Now, judges who broke federal law are facing the appropriate consequences for their actions. Hiding gun toting, illegal immigrant, gang members, and letting wanted persons slip out the back of their courthouse.

Apologists for these individuals are the same people that were beaming with delight over the conviction of Donald Trump for having his staff denote money paid to a lawyer as “lawyers fees.” They were gleeful when weirdo rape fantasist E. Jean Carroll won a civil judgment against Trump for an alleged crime that occurred sometime in the 90’s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.

And, of course they idolized Letitia James as she won an almost half a billion-dollar civil judgement against Trump for inflating the price of his real estate holdings.

When the first former President in American history to be criminally charged was feeling the strain of multiple questionable criminal and civil cases, Trump haters cried “no one in above the law.” Casting tradition and normal practices to the side, they delighted in the lawfare campaign.

Now these very same people are decrying the arrest of judges who broke the law. It violates norms! they say. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar took to X to say, “This is not normal. The Administration’s arrest of a sitting judge in Wisconsin is a drastic move that threatens the rule of law. While we don’t have all the details, this is a grave step and undermines our system of checks and balances.”

Let’s translate that. “I don’t have the facts, but I don’t like this - so it’s bad.”

Violating norms was what the anti-Trump lawfare was all about. She uses the terms “rule of law” and “system of checks and balances,” but we are not sure she knows what they mean. That judge seems to have intentionally allowed a person wanted for a federal violation slip out the jury door and evade federal agents. Irrespective of whether it was a judicial or administrative warrant, that is simply not allowed.

Judges have been arrested many times for breaking the law. A former president never has until Trump was arrested – several times. But only one of these things is a threat to democracy in the eyes of Trump haters. They should wake up and review their own mantra – no one is above the law. Not ideologically based violators of immigration law, not judges who help perps escape, not attorneys general who cheat on real estate deals.

Welcome to your own reality, lawfare warriors. Enjoy the taste of your own words.

Doing things backwards in Chicago

Last year we covered Chicago Mayoral disaster Brandon Johnson’s scrapping of the ShotSpotter contract with Sound Thinking Inc. ShotSpotter uses sensitive microphone arrays to triangulate the location of gunfire in real time. We used it in the NYPD and found it surprisingly effective.

Johnson derisively described the technology as “walkie talkies on sticks” and implied that the system was racist. A well-informed conclusion, no doubt. Naturally, Johnson had no plan in place to replace the technology or fill the gap removing it left. Why put the horse in front of the cart?

Knowing Johnson’s passion for ineptness we figured it would be a long and wasteful process to find a replacement. The residents of Chicago are still waiting for progress on a technology to make its streets safer. Now it appears that Chicago is contemplating rehiring Sound Thinking to resume the ShotSpotter program. Little Rock, Arkansas recently also decided to rehire ShotSpotter.

We are not shills for the company – we have no connection to it. ShotSpotter is admittedly expensive. If there is a better option at lower cost, go for it.

But like most poorly thought-out liberal criminal justice “reforms,” the sunsetting of ShotSpotter seems like another costly mistake that will have to be undone.

And its discontinuance was likely expensive to – in lives.