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IRS Investigation Unit, Losing Resources, Gets Choosy About Cases, Deputy Says
printThe Internal Revenue Service criminal investigation division, which has described itself as the premier financial investigative agency in the world, claims one of the highest conviction rates in federal law enforcement. But the unit renowned for putting Al Capone behind bars has struggled in recent years to meet its mission of investigating tax, money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes with a steadily shrinking work force. The number of special agents in the division has declined from 3,245 in 1997 to 2,780 in 2006, a period when high-profile financial crimes and terrorist financing issues regularly made front page news. John...
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