The World’s Most Dangerous Gang
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The suburbs of the US are no longer the same as those immortalised in 1950s movies, with white families living in big houses and the father driving off to work in his Buick, past manicured lawns.
These days, it is more likely that English will not even be the first language you hear on the streets.
In Langley Park, Maryland, the kiosks sell Spanish-language newspapers; the supermarket shelves are stocked with tortillas and assorted black beans.
Mexican music plays in the background while the tannoy blares out announcements in Spanish.
Outside, groups of men hang out on the street corners and their Spanish is accented—Nicaraguan, Honduran and, most often, Salvadoran.
They wait, hoping to be picked up for a day’s labouring in the houses and gardens of Washington DC’s middle class.
But among the hard-working families lurks a darker shadow.
Violent crime
Vicious street gangs, committed to violence, have spread throughout the Americas and are now a significant threat in the US.
We visited Maria Hernandez in her apartment in Langley Park.
She welcomed us through her battered front door, which had been smashed by police in a dawn raid.
They were looking for evidence connecting her son, Marvin, to an assault, where a man suffered brain damage after being hit on the head with a baseball bat.
Maria told us that Marvin had joined a gang after being picked on at school.
The police search warrant said Marvin was a member of MS-13.
MS-13—or Mara Salvatrucha—is the biggest and fastest-growing of the Latin American street gangs.
In Maryland alone, MS-13 members are accused of being responsible for a long series of violent crimes including murder.
Favoured tactics include decapitation by machete.
MS-13 started life as a group of young immigrants on the streets of California in the 1980s.
After nearly a million Salvadorans fled their civil war for the US, many of them settled in Los Angeles where gang violence was rife.
In the 1990s, the “maras” spread to Central America after many of their leaders were deported from the United States.
Kill and control
Those countries, struggling to get back on their feet after years of devastating civil conflict, were a perfect setting in which gangs could proliferate.
Today, some estimates put up to 60,000 maras active in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and—according to the FBI—in more than 40 US states.
Rod J Rosenstein is Maryland’s US Attorney.
His office is currently prosecuting a series of cases against MS-13. He told us the gang’s motives are more about mayhem than money.
“There’s evidence that the model of the gang is rape, kill, control,” he said.
“They’re really about gaining control over other immigrants from their community, intimidating people and asserting some degree of threat which enables them to control their neighbourhoods.”
Rosenstein’s prosecutors have moved on from charging individual gang members with discrete crimes.
Instead, they are now targeting MS-13 with federal racketeering laws—the same legislation used against the Mafia and other organised crime.
For this tactic to be successful, they must prove that MS-13 is indeed an organised network.
We attended court in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The prosecutors spent much of their time talking about gang meetings; about the clothes—blue and white for MS-13—and the tattoos.
And, most damningly, an alleged firm link between gang leaders in El Salvador and their proteges in the US.
Murder by mobile
In June 2007, the then US Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales held a press conference to announce charges against MS-13 leaders in El Salvador.
The indictment alleged that Saul Antonios Turcos Angel communicated with members of the “Teclas Locos Salvatruchos” clique in Maryland via mobile phone and ordered them to commit two murders.
Later that day gang members in Maryland killed two people and wounded a juvenile.
The links between the countries are clear.
The court in Greenbelt was shown a home video made by the gang in a Salvadoran prison.
In it, maras send greetings to their “homies” in Maryland and other parts of the US.
They talk of killing and controlling others and display their full-body tattoos in a show of allegiance to MS-13.
Mindful of these trans-national links, the FBI last year made the decision to open an office in El Salvador.
Aaron Escorza heads the FBI’s National Gang Task Force. He told us the gangs move freely around the region.
“They don’t recognise borders. They commit crimes in El Salvador, flee El Salvador to come to the US and you have MS-ers who are committing crimes in the US and fleeing down to El Salvador to evade arrest.”
Hard fist
But once in El Salvador, the challenge to authorities is immense.
Entire swathes of the capital are virtually under the control of MS-13 and its rival, Mara 18.
Local police patrol warily, tending when possible to avoid those parts of the city.
The region’s homicide rates are among the highest in the world—58 per 100,000 of population in El Salvador.
The past decade has seen politicians rise to power on the back of promises to declare war against the gangs.
The “Mano Dura”—or Hard Fist—policy introduced by Honduras at the start of the decade was closely followed by “Super Mano Dura” in El Salvador.
The legislation meant police could round up gang members at will, throwing young men in prison for any suspicious behaviour, including associating with likely gang members or sporting tattoos.
The result was thousands of gang members in prison.
But courts were not able to process such numbers and many lingered in prison without charge.
The prisons themselves have become strongholds of the gangs, many of them controlled by the Maras themselves, the authorities guard only from the outside.
The “Mano Dura” policies are now largely discredited.
On patrol in San Salvador, the police told us the laws had been counter-productive, driving the gangs underground and leading to more clever tactics from the likes of MS-13.
They pointed out men who could be Maras, but who now wear long t-shirts to cover their tattoos.
The graffiti that used to be ubiquitous, identifying each gang’s territory, is no longer so obvious.
Mano Dura made the prisons into virtual headquarters for the gangs.
And the US deportation policy added to the problem, with the result that the gangs have become ever more organised and powerful.
Revolving door
Jose Miguel Cruz, of the University of Central America, who has studied the Maras for over a decade, says these approaches have led to a “revolving door” effect.
“MS-13 has spread across the US and is a major security problem in Central America. We haven’t tried any more preventative measures.”
He draws a comparison with Nicaragua. “They also are poor, they also have weak institutions.”
But Nicaragua has so far managed to avoid any large-scale gang problem. Why? “The police concentrate on more preventative measures,” says Mr Cruz.
Former gang member Edgar Ramirez backed this up.
When he arrived back from the US, deported after a three-year prison sentence, he said there were no opportunities, no way back into normal society.
“I had tattoos so everyone treated me like a criminal,” he tells us.
“And if you speak English, they know you’re a deportee.”
For now, US policy remains focused on law-enforcement.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for Homeland Security, Julie Myers, says it must remain the priority.
“If we can lock them away we will, but if we can’t, they should be deported,” she told us.
“We have to think about stopping young people going into gangs; but I believe the American public is safer when we remove these individuals from the streets of our communities and deport them wherever possible.”
In the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was fighting a proxy war against the Soviet Union in Central America, he promised to rebuild a new, better, El Salvador.
But after spending so much on the war, there was little appetite in Washington for the reconstruction project.
Two decades later, the US is reaping the consequences. And in Central America, a region still struggling with poverty and crime, MS-13 has thrived.
Law enforcement alone does not seem to be enough to contain it.
(Posted on April 4, 2008)
Comments
The proliferation of Hispanic gangs like MS-13 is not only a problem, but it is also a symptom of the unnecessary perfidy of the liberal/neocon alliance.
Posted by Old Victorian at 7:52 PM on April 4
The murder rate of 58 per 100,000 per year quoted for El Salvador was not put in proper context, so I will do it. Among English-speaking whites in the US, it is 3.9 per 100,000 per year. Among native white Britons, it is 4.1 per 100,000 per year. Nearly identical!
Violent crime is a racial and cultural phenomenon, and aside from the real sickos, whites and northeast Asians massively undercommit compared with Mestizos and blacks.
I loved Japan the summer I was there, for the way I could go out without worry in the evenings. I did notice that people would sometimes cross the street to avoid *me*, but even that was rare. In 1987, I got lost on a borrowed bicycle at night in Nanjing, China on my way home from a party. I was never worried, and the locals were quite helpful. They told me the way to the river, and I followed it to a bridge I knew, and then the road to where I belonged. I *did* have to climb the fence to get back into my compound, as the guards were gone, but I was able to do that with the bicycle in my left hand. My wife says I am somewhat strong.
In Japan, one of my co-workers once complained his son’s bicycle was stolen. The thief brought the bicycle back after a week, and left it where he took it. I used to buy beer and walk to the beach to drink it, and nobody bothered me. Even my Japanese didn’t get much of a workout, as everyone wanted to try their English on me, especially the young women.
Could I have done any of these things in El Salvador and survived?
The US didn’t create violent crime in Latin America. Latin American criminals do that on their own.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 9:14 PM on April 4
“There’s evidence that the model of the gang is rape, kill, control,” he said.
And there’s even more evidence that these people gravitate to these criminal gangs, because they have been a part of a tribal existence for so many thousands of years the desire is ingrained deep within their psyches.
In other words, they’re doing what comes naturally.
Posted by w.r. at 9:51 PM on April 4
I never cease to be amazed by the ease and regularity with which the guardians of political correctness,people like the author of this column, attribute all societal problems to “the white majority.” This is especially convoluted and, furthermore, offensive, when the problems in question are racial in nature and involve the victimization of whites by non-whites. The writer of this story suggests that had Ronald Reagan not reneged on his “promise” to rebuild El Salvador, America wouldn’t be experiencing the ravages of gangs like MS-13. Read between the lines: White America is ultimately the reason for hispanic immigrant gang-violence. Amazing.
Posted by Jack at 10:16 PM on April 4
” I got lost on a borrowed bicycle at night in Nanjing, China on my way home from a party. I was never worried, and the locals were quite helpful.”
You got lucky.
Posted by at 10:29 PM on April 4
Our open borders led to this. Another story waiting to be told is the one about the thousands of members of the “Religion of Peace” who are here waiting for their opportunity.
Posted by at 7:15 AM on April 5
The most dangerous gang is actually the liberals in Washington D.C. MS-13 may take your life from you, but the liberals are taking the country and our freedom away from us and our children.
Posted by Drifter at 7:50 AM on April 5
just hard working hispanics who want to get ahead in our society and bring GW’s “family values” to America—-I wonder just how many of these gang members(kind of like “family members”) are illegals who have escaped detection by our wonderful department of Homeland Security and ICE.
Posted by at 9:11 AM on April 5
““If we can lock them away we will, but if we can’t, they should be deported,” [US Assistant Secretary of State for Homeland Security, Julie Myers] told us.
“I believe the American public is safer when we remove these individuals from the streets of our communities…””
Allow me to un-muddle your thinking, Ms. Myers. I promise you would get MUCH better results for the American people you claim to represent if you’d instead re-think your priorities and re-word your policy statements accordingly:
“If we can DEPORT them we will, but if we can’t, they should be LOCKED AWAY”
Posted by The Incredible Shrinking White Man at 9:41 AM on April 5
Incredible Shrinking White Man:
Don’t trust Julie Myers. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), (of all people), exposed her as a corporate shill when Myers was in front of the Senate to head ICE. Her time as Interim ICE head had almost no corporate enforcement.
Posted by Question Diversity at 9:50 AM on April 5
About fifteen minutes ago, I completed my task of e-mailing this article with a request to oppose subsidizing illegal aliens, to every New Jersey State Senator and Assembly member I could find from the New Jersey Legislature web site! I look to your web site for immigration articles, besides www.fairus.org, www.outragedpatriots.com. Please note the rally scheduled for next month in Lakewood, New Jersey, as described on the flyer from the “events/announcements” of www.njcitizensforimmigrationcontrol.com? I’m going to call Congress again this next Monday to rmeind them to support the SAVE Act! This past week, I contacted the New Jersey legislators for support of New Jersey State Senate Bill 1312, sponsored by Senator Stephen Sweeney, which would crack down on illegal aliens, even though the appeal is pending from the federal district court striking down the Hazleton, Pennsylvania, local Ordinance which would crack down on illegal aliens, Lozano v. City of Hazleton, 459 F.Supp.2d 332 (M.D. Pa. 2006), as to whether the federal immigration laws pre-empt State and local laws against illegal aliens!
Posted by Richard Paul Zuckerman at 12:37 PM on April 5
” I got lost on a borrowed bicycle at night in Nanjing, China on my way home from a party. I was never worried, and the locals were quite helpful.”
Here is a website where people post blogs of their bicycle tours from all over and sometimes around the world. The cultural comments and observations are interesting.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/?o=3Tzut
Posted by William Hendershot at 3:19 PM on April 5
I had a situation the other day where I might have run into gang type hispanics. I had just made my way onto a loop at a fairly high rate of speed when I noticed a black pocket rocket surge out of the traffic and make its way to about two feet from my rear bumper. It then came up beside me and I observed two hispanic males. The one in the passenger seat was staring at me.
Then the car shot off and moved over into the far right lane. I shifted over to the far right lane and moved up on the black pocket rocket. It then bolted onto an exit ramp and disappeared. My thought was that I had just had an encounter with a hostile alien force.
Posted by Drew at 3:23 PM on April 5
In the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was fighting a proxy war against the Soviet Union in Central America, he promised to rebuild a new, better, El Salvador.
But after spending so much on the war, there was little appetite in Washington for the reconstruction project.
Two decades later, the US is reaping the consequences. And in Central America, a region still struggling with poverty and crime, MS-13 has thrived.
Law enforcement alone does not seem to be enough to contain it.
I noticed what Jack noticed. The summation of the article - it’s our fault. So an article about non-white illegal criminals becomes politically correct.
Posted by at 5:52 PM on April 5
We still have the Second Amendment. El Salvador prohibits its citizens from legally owning firearms. That’s the difference.
Do the math. There may be 60,000 MS-13 gang members in the USA. There are 80-85 MILLION gunowners in America, the overwhelming majority of whom are law-abiding.
Posted by Soprano Fan at 6:36 PM on April 5
“You got lucky.”
Don’t get me wrong; there was crime in China while I was there, but it is dealt with rather strictly. In Nanjing three men had been luring young women into the city from the surrounding countryside with promises of employment, and then raping them and forcing them to work as prostitutes. After a quick trial, the militia took all three outside town and shot them dead. The next of kin were billed for the cost of the ammunition.
This was 1987, so even the money I carried was in foreign exchange certificates, and not real renminbi. I was not allowed to spend renminbi, and ordinary Chinese were not allowed to spend FEC, so even robbing me would have been a complete waste of time, unless someone wanted to take a chance of getting shot by the militia for the clothes on my back or a rather shabby bicycle. I was probably wearing black Levi 501s and a polo shirt, since that’s what I usually wear in warm weather, and given the year, probably Reeboks. I suppose if I had been a young woman that abduction for sex slavery might have been a possibility, but I very much doubt that anyone over there is perverted enough to want to pay good money to have their way with a Celtic man’s hairy behind.
I once received change for a lunch I bought Zhuan, one of my friends. The lunch was huge and wonderful, and cost 14 RMB, or about $3.50 for two people, and that included two liters of Tsingtao beer. The change I got was in real RMB and not FEC, so I knew I would never be able to spend it. I gave it to her.
There are some parts of the world I will never visit, because there are limits to safety I won’t push. Visiting Africa or the middle east would be at the top of my “To Don’t” list in this respect; right up there with Detroit or Camden. I would be reluctant to visit China again; not out of fear for my personal safety, but because the place is filthy in an industrial sort of way.
Posted by Michael C Scott at 1:14 AM on April 6
“We still have the Second Amendment. El Salvador prohibits its citizens from legally owning firearms. That’s the difference.”
And I’m sure the gangs know it too, which is why they usually prey on their (umarmed) people…..
Posted by at 1:33 AM on April 6
Don´t remember that the gangs as they are were born IN the United States IN Los Angeles, not in Latin America. And also remember why the Salvadorians, Hondurans, and Guatemalans first arrived to the States in the sixties and seventies. It was not because of their poverty, but rather because they were fleeing the bloody right wing governments in their countries, financed and supported by THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Posted by david at 3:37 AM on April 6
I wonder just how many of these gang members are illegals who have escaped detection by our wonderful department of Homeland Security and ICE.
Posted by at 9:11 AM on April 5
If a gang member lives in Los Angeles or San Francisco, he need not worry about detection from the likes of Homeland Security or ICE. You see, the local politicians have declared LA and SF sanctuary cities.
Illegal alien gang members in Los Angeles also are afforded added protection by Special Order 40.
From Judicial Watch:
“…Special Order 40 is a police mandate that originated in 1979 by former Los Angeles Police Chief Gates and the L.A. City Council to prevent police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. The downside to Special Order 40 is quite substantial because it is a powerful incentive for more illegal immigrants to flaunt U.S. law. Illegal immigrants recognize Los Angeles – and many other cities that have adopted similar laws – as a safe haven where they can’t be touched because of their immigration status. Special Order 40 is also at odds with the law. No police officer can be ordered to ignore and flout the law, including federal immigration laws…”
http://www.judicialwatch.org/so40.shtml
Is it any wonder that MS-13 and other violent, murderous gangs were created and thrive in So. California (and are spreading YOUR way)?
And as if it couldn’t get any worse, here’s the latest news from San Francisco, with its idiot mayor, Gavin Newsom (soon expected to run for governor of California):
“…officials are extending a very public welcome to undocumented workers.
This week, the city launched a campaign featuring TV and radio ads, billboards and bus signs reminding residents of its status as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. The $83,000 blitz will include brochures distributed at police stations and hospitals, promising safe access to city services regardless of residency status.
‘We’re inviting people to come out of the shadows and take advantage of services,‘ said Mayor Gavin Newsom. San Francisco has tried to make this point clear for years.
Since it became a sanctuary city in 1989, the city has barred employees from assisting federal officials with immigration investigations or arrests. But Newsom said recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in San Francisco and the Bay Area convinced him the city needed to do more….”
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-welcome4apr04,0,6010918.story
Imagine that: An elected official putting the needs of illegal aliens above the needs of the city’s residents.
Would the last fleeing (or is it fleeced?) taxpayer turn off the lights—oh wait! They’re already going off…
Bon
Posted by BonBon at 5:14 PM on April 6
MS-13 like all Hispanic gangs are nothing but degenerate punks and their systemic lack of intelligence will make it easy to erase them from the American scene. The mainstream media is, as usual, making them a mountain out of a mole hill…
Posted by at 8:29 AM on April 7
Well folks, I’m going to deviate from from the prevailing orthodoxy of opinion in this venue here regarding MS-13. I’m with David of 3:37 AM April 6 on this.
The US Government has a long and sordid history of interference and skullduggery in Central American affairs, at least since Teddy Roosevelt. I lived in CA during from 1978-1980 and witnessed some of it. A lot of it was related to the banana companies and other agri-business interests and labor movements. Now, I’m not suggesting that Central America would have somehow turned out to be a first world society if the Yanqui had just stayed out, because it wouldn’t have. But interference is interference and unintended consequences are unintended consequences. And chickens coming home to roost are chickens coming home to roost.
Having said that, I would be remiss if I failed to point out that the same sort of analysis is NOT valid what talking about Mexico. Mexico has been extremely vigilant to the point of cutting off its own nose to spite its face in matters related to arms length geopolitical distances, its own sovereignity, and Yanqui interference. We’re talking about a country that came very close to declaring war on the US during WW I.
Posted by at 9:40 AM on April 7
It’s funny how the anti defamation league of bnai brith, who compiles lists of those known to have uttered anti semitic rhetoric and also an organization who claims to “monitor” hate on the internet and in the world in general, fails to mention this gang ms-13. Actually theres nothing funny about it when you begin to understand why. The southern poverty law center seems to have the very same policies. They report the existence of hundreds of “white” gangs on their websites. I mean these gangs as they call them are nowhere near the numbers or activity of hispanic gangs like m-13 any number of of other ethnic gangs. So why does “honest” abe foxman and his anti defamation league and Why does morris seligman dees and his southern poverty law center seem to forget about them. Im not talking about the literally one or two black islamic organizations that these pressure groups report on. Setting money aside what motive, and I do not doubt there is more motive, would “honest” abe foxman and his underlings and the ADL and morris seligman dees and his southern poverty law center have to make a career out of doing this elaborate job of compiling all this data on these so called white supremacists and haters?
Posted by at 10:49 AM on April 7
I disagree, the most dangerous gang is our two liberal, globalist, unconstitutional political parties who have destroying white-Christians, hence, America itself since all the communist, unconstitutional (black/brown) racial, social programs.
Posted by Michigan patriot at 11:36 AM on April 7
>>>was not because of their poverty, but rather because they were fleeing the bloody right wing governments in their countries, financed and supported by THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
SO WHAT? That gives them an excuse for rape, extortion, intimidation and killing? I, for one, am “fed up” hearing excuses and appologies for criminals.
Maybe our judicial pendulum has swung too far to the right. We need to worry less about the “rights” of crminals, ESPECIALLY criminal illegal aliens and more about the rights of the American People! Adopt a “ONE STRIKE AND YOU’RE OUT!” stance. By forcibly DEPORTING any illegal the instant he or she is charged with a crime. Forget the nonsense of granting illegal aliens Constitutional protection. They don’t deserve it!
Mugshot and fingerprint illegal aliens before deportation. If they surface a second time, 20 years hard labor! Why can’t we have an offshore prison — like turning Guantanamo into a center to house criminals who are also illegal aliens. No coddling them. No leniency. No family visitation unless the family cares to PAY their way to Cuba.
Time to put official (judicial) sympathy where it belongs… on the welfare of The American People. NOT, emphatically NOT, lavishing sympathy on people who have proven, by mentality and behavior, they can never fit into American life.
Posted by Fed Up at 12:55 PM on April 7
Sombra Negra in El Salvador knows how to deal with this gang that was born in El Salvador and not in LA. We civilians need to take a page from their (Sombra Negra’s) book and end this gang problem, because our police are inept and politically correct and will do nothing whatsoever…
Posted by at 2:36 PM on April 7
Why do they call these groups “youth gangs” in America yet in other countries where we send our greatest assest Our Young People to DIE everyday to stop these same types of activities thousands of miles from here we call them Insurgents, or some other harsh military name.. Aren’t they the same type of people doing the same type of thing in both places?
Posted by Tobbie at 7:50 PM on April 7
The most dangerous gang in America is the US Congress…
Posted by at 1:04 PM on April 8
“I disagree, the most dangerous gang is our two liberal, globalist, unconstitutional political parties who have destroying white-Christians, hence, America itself since all the communist, unconstitutional (black/brown) racial, social programs.”
Posted by Michigan patriot at 11:36 AM on April 7
Perhaps you are having trouble turning the page. Even so, going by your own logic, it would not be inaccurate to say that MS13 are Marxist shocktroops.
Posted by Whiteplight at 2:06 PM on April 8
I heard a Texan on TV say “When do we lock and load”
Our government fills our military with such criminals and foreigners who are promised a green card if they enlist, they are not sure whites will fire on their own people in the event whites rebel for any number of reasons.
Some years ago when our military was mostly white our government did a survey among military personnel asking if they would fire on their own people if necessary. Eighty percent said no and twenty percent said they would.
As you can see, today they are stacking the deck.
Posted by at 3:58 PM on April 8
In so many ways, this administration has set up American citziens for grief, big time. All of these gangs, are unneccessary and could be eliminated over night if we had a government that actually cared about the citizenry. I have hope however, the American citizenry is going to draw all kinds of lessons as time goes on, and their pain increases. It’s only too bad that it will have to happen that way before change comes.
Posted by Bobby at 10:56 PM on April 8
3:58 PM: “Our government fills our military with such criminals and foreigners who are promised a green card if they enlist, they are not sure whites will fire on their own people in the event whites rebel for any number of reasons.”
These aliens perform the same menial jobs in the military that they do outside the military. These are not skilled and courageous combatants to be respected or feared and a motivated Girl Scout could easily defeat any one of them in battle…
Posted by at 11:53 AM on April 11