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FBI
Targets MS-13 Street Gang |
Posted:
10.05.05
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The FBI has formed a national task force aimed at dismantling
street gangs and has focused attention on the MS-13 gang, which
federal investigators say rivals the infamous Crips and Bloods.
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Federal law enforcement officials in states around the country
are targeting the criminal organization known as MS-13, a violent
street gang with origins in Central American countries.
In September, police in Oregon and Minnesota arrested suspected
gang members, some accused of violent crimes.
In Northern Virginia, where police estimate there are over 2,000
members, a 17-year-old Herndon High School student was stabbed
to death by an MS-13 gang member who pled guilty to the crime.
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Mara Salvatrucha |
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MS-13, which stands for Mara Salvatrucha, is a mainly Central
American gang whose original members arrived in Los Angeles and
Washington, D.C. in the 1980s after 1 million people fled a vicious
civil war in El Salvador.
 In
Los Angeles, the refugees flocked to an established Hispanic neighborhood
known as the "Rampart." But the area's predominantly
Mexican population did not welcome the Salvadorans and subjected
them to discrimination and the abuses of local gangs.
In response, refugees with paramilitary or guerilla experience
from their days in El Salvador banded together to form the Mara
Salvatrucha gang. The gang's name is derived from the Spanish
word for army ant, marabunta, and Salvatrucho, which is the nickname
Salvadorans use to refer to themselves.
"Most of these members coming from the war-torn countries
where, you know, killing was a regular occurrence -- violence,
beating people up, stabbing people, seeing people die. I mean,
they were desensitized. So, when it came time for them to deal
with rival gang members, I mean, their readiness to commit a violent
act was nothing; it was second nature," officer Frank Flores,
a member of an anti-gang unit of the L.A. Police Department, told
the NewsHour.
Gang members typically used tattoos to identify themselves and
graffiti to indicate their turf.
Common markings for both include "MS," "Salvadorian
Pride" and the number "13," which has superstitious
and gangland connotations.
The FBI estimates that MS-13 has as many as 10,000 active members
dispersed in 33 states. Members have been accused of burglaries,
drug sales, weapons smuggling, extortion, illegal firearm sales,
auto thefts, murder and rape.
MS-13 also has developed a reputation around the world.
In August, coordinated attacks by MS-13 members in seven Guatemalan
prisons left 35 inmates dead. And, last year, 28 people died when
MS-13 members sprayed a bus in Honduras with automatic weapon
fire.
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U.S. Government
Response |
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To combat the MS-13 threat, the federal government has initiated
a nationwide campaign called Operation Community Shield, part
of the Department of Homeland Security's anti-gang program.
So far in 2005, immigration and customs officers have arrested
1,057 suspected gangsters.
 Congress
also has begun working on legislation to make gang crimes federal
offenses with mandatory minimum sentences, after rumors surfaced
that MS-13 may have had connections to al-Qaida.
"Street gangs in America have grown and expanded their influence
to an alarming level, marked by increased violence and criminal
activity," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has
said.
"These gangs pose a severe threat to public safety, and
their growth must not go unchallenged."
Homeland Security initially planned its offensive specifically
to counter Mara Salvatrucha but has since targeted all 750,000
active gang members the Justice Department estimates make up 80
gangs in dozens of states.
Some community activists say more arrests are not the answer.
"It's not solving the problem. It's just the putting a bandage
over the problem, you know, because you're not dealing with the
real root cause of the problem," says Alex Sanchez, a former
gang member who now helps organize Homies Unidos, an intervention
program with offices in L.A. and El Salvador.
"You still have kids joining gangs as small as, you know,
junior high. And you have kids that are in elementary already
knowing, you know, the gang structure and already knowing about
gangs," Sanchez adds.
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Central American
response |
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MS-13 gang members deported from the United States have spread
to Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, where governments
are cracking down. Human rights groups have complained that innocent
people have been jailed, and that prisons are overcrowded.
 Those
who return to El Salvador face a grim future. The official government
policy of President Elias Antonio Saca is "super mano dura,"
or super hard hand.
The national police force includes heavily armed soldiers, and
the government imprisons any person found with gang-related tattoos,
even if they are not caught participating in criminal activity.
--
Compiled for NewsHour Extra by Zach Werner
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It's important to understand both sides in an election, and I think it will be interesting to hear the Republican opinion on big issues. As a writer, it will be my job to take that perspective and share it with the youth of the country, a crowd that mainly supports Obama.
