The federal task force in Memphis, Tennessee, has made more arrests for murders than the number of actual murders that have occurred.
Posted by The Dan Bongino Show, Checked
- Sources
- 5 contradict1 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 50%
The Dan Bongino ShowOct 19, 2026
The sources give 144 task-force homicide arrests through Oct. 15, 2026, but report 184 to 235 Memphis murders in 2025 alone, which suggests murders outnumbered arrests over the period. No source states the total murders during the task force's run, and AG Blanche's interview says the opposite, so this rests on inference and the verdict is held at moderate confidence.
Our two reads of who says this, and how, disagree, so it counts as the post's own claim.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… It was called Operation Viper in Memphis. We put the full force of the federal government to go and just lock up anyone and anyone we could find some nexus to, and we found them. Check this out: the task force has made more arrests for murders than actual murders that have occurred. The task force is arresting someone wanted on a murder charge every two and a half days. So, during a work week, two guys being arrested on murder charge. Overall crime is at a 25-year low, down 34% from last year. …
The Dan Bongino Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The U.S. Marshals Service reports 144 homicide arrests since the task force launched (as of Oct. 15, 2026), while the MPD reported 235 murders in 2025 alone, and the WaPo piece cites 184 murders for 2025.[1][4][5]
Contradicts. Memphis murders fell from a 2023 peak to 2025 and continued to decline in 2026 (down about 36-37% per city and federal figures), so the murder count during the task force period still exceeds the 144 homicide arrests; no source reports a cumulative murder count that would make arrests exceed murders.[2][3][5]
Supports. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an Oct. 16 interview that the task force is 'now arresting more people wanted for murder than murders are actually happening,' but this is an unquantified assertion by a claimant and does not supply the murder count.[6]
Context. Several sources report the task force's arrest totals (13,598 overall as of Oct. 15) and murder declines, but none directly compares total homicide arrests with the total number of murders in the same window.[1][3][7]
Sources
7 sources: 3 primary, 1 tier 2, 3 not rated
- 1MSTF Arrests 29 Wednesday on Multiple Felonies, Including Homicide, 1st-Degree Murder; Recovers 7 Guns | U.S. Marshals Servicestage.usmarshals.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts, context
- 2President Trump Promised to Make Memphis Safe Again. ...whitehouse.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 3Memphis Safe Task Force Commemorates First Year of Relentless ...usmarshals.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts, context
- 4Saving Memphiswashingtonpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts
- 5Trump sent the military to Memphis to fight crime. Here’s ...csmonitor.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 6Exclusive interview: Blanche says Task Force is working, but long-term success measured in more than numberswreg.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7Memphis Safe Task Force surpasses 13000 arrests as it ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The federal task force in Memphis is arresting someone wanted on a murder charge every two and a half days.True
- Murders in Memphis are down 33%, sexual assaults down 25%, motor vehicle thefts down 54%, robberies down 40%, and aggravated assaults down 24%.Mixed
- Overall crime in Memphis is at a 25-year low, down 34% from last year.Mixed
- The FBI delivered the largest reduction in the murder rate in the history of America according to the Uniform Crime Report.True
- The FBI has arrested 31,000 violent gang members.Can’t tell