Alan foreword: As if terrorism threats were not enough, the USA is becoming "infested" with burgeoning criminal gangs or organizations, which while outwardly non-political, can - like the Russian Mob, as it is sometimes called - be politically "hired" to do the work of any taskmaster paying them enough.
The most ruthless up and coming gang, again non-political in concept, the MS-13 as described below, is only "a bit of money" sway from becoming the surrogates of Middle East or Isalmic terrorists. Already some indications show that Islamic Jihadists have begun to use Hspanic gangs.
Illegal voting booths set up around the USA for Iran's presidential elections in 2005 had Hispanic gang members hired and provided security uniforms, to protect the locations from any unwanted attention.
The step from this to using them for assassinations or to intimidate opponents is but a small one and the MS-13 gangs or cliques have no loyalty to their host country, America. Pay them to do their work and they will kill, maim or otherwise terrorise someone.
They have become far more sophisticated than the original membes who relished and displayed their multiple tattoos and gang sings. Nowadays, these have for the most part been shunned, sometimes lasered off, to avoid instant recognition they provided to law enforcement.
It is only a matter of time - if Iraq quitens down and Iran is attacked, for these gangs to help with concealing, aiding and abetting Islamic suicide bombers who have been set up inside the USA for quite some time in ever increasing numbers.
Be very aware and even very afraid of this infrastructure avilable for our Islamic enemies.
Specially when Iranian, Palestinian, Hezbollah and similar terror groups are also increasingly setting up shop in South and Central America, where they interface with MS-13 - mostly for drug smuggling profits.
The Mara Salvatrucha Organization and the U.S. Response Drafted By: Samuel Logan, Ashley Morse http://www.pinr.com
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) considers the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) the most dangerous street gang in the United States.
The violent nature of MS-13 members results in a considerable number of murders and vicious beatings. Already a number of cases, tried in Maryland and New York, have resulted in hefty prison sentences, even life in prison, for MS-13 gang members.
Violence first attracted the F.B.I., but evidence of the gang's increased levels of sophisticated organization is an indication of a future where MS-13 has evolved from a street gang into a transnational criminal organization that stretches from Central America to suburban neighborhoods in dozens of U.S. cities.
Horizontal integration of the gang is a primary concern. Smaller groups within the MS-13 gang structure known as "cliques" now communicate on a regular basis.
The nature of their collaboration ranges from recruiting strategies and turf protection to the development of regional strategies that involve: protecting gang members from law enforcement through witness intimidation, targeting of police officers and rival gang members, collecting dues to support gang members in Central America and other locations inside the United States, drug trafficking, human smuggling, and extortion.
Vertical integration, or connections between U.S.-based cliques and gang members in Central America, cements the transnational nature of MS-13. Documented communication between gang members in El Salvador and the leaders of MS-13 cliques in Maryland, just outside the U.S. capital, suggests a trend toward a higher level of organization that has likely been repeated in other states where MS-13 is known to have flourished, including New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, and California.
From the smallest towns to big cities, the U.S. government's reaction to MS-13 activity has quickened its pace since 2005, when the F.B.I. announced the MS-13 as the country's most dangerous street gang. Yet challenges in human resources, attention from the federal level, and the day to day details that stymie police work, such as language barriers, sometimes work in the gang's favor.
States' attorney generals offices across the United States have begun to use anti-racketeering legislation to prove that the MS-13 is a transnational and well organized criminal enterprise. The same legislation has been used in the past to dismantle mafia networks in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. The very use of this legislation indicates that federal law enforcement has begun to target "organization" as an identifying characteristic of the Mara Salvatrucha.
The MS-13, even as a criminal organization, is (still) far from a national security threat, but its presence in U.S. cities and towns, along the U.S. border, and its deep connections with Mexican organized crime and a number of criminal elements in Central America designate the MS-13 as one of the latest groups to threaten the well being of U.S. citizens across the country.
Horizontal Integration The spread of the MS-13 gang across the United States is unique, unlike other gang threats that law enforcement has tackled in the past. MS-13 finds its origins in large urban areas, but members are known to follow the migratory patterns of illegal aliens leading them to small towns across the United States.
Despite all its acts of violence, what may be most alarming about the MS-13 gang is its increasing organization and structure that many leading experts are comparing to criminal factions of the 1950s such as the Mafia and Hell's Angels.
A 2004 report by the National Drug Intelligence Center echoed this alarm, stating that the gang "may be increasing its coordination with MS-13 chapters in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia, and New York City, possibly signaling an attempt to build a national command structure."
Illustrating this warning, Robert Hart, supervisory special agent with the F.B.I., described a case in 2005 in which a high ranking MS-13 member from the West Coast arrived on Long Island to "to try to organize these various cliques or sets into a more formal structure." In Northern Virginia, U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty observes that "in some of the violent crimes, there seems to be a kind of approval process in some kind of hierarchy beyond the clique."
In 2002, the Washington Times obtained a Metropolitan Police Department internal memo that stated that 20 MS-13 member from Los Angeles traveled to Northern Virginia because they were "upset with the local MS-13 gang because a Fairfax County police officer has not been killed."
Such incidences have continued to occur, leading law enforcement to question if the MS-13 has an organized, national leadership structure or whether members of various cliques simply engage in networking.
An exemplary case of networking and perhaps higher organization and structure within the gang across the United States lies in the Normandie Locos clique.
The Normandie Locos clique originated in Los Angeles but it now has representatives in numerous locations inside the United States and Central America. The Normandie Locos clique from Los Angeles led a well-known series of attacks that occurred between Texas, Virginia and San Pedro Sula, Honduras, elucidating the mobility and coordination of the clique. The MS-13 member who orchestrated the attacks, Lester Rivera-Paz, who had already been deported four times, was arrested after crossing the U.S. border in flight from Honduran authorities.
A subsequent investigation into the murder of a 16-year-old girl killed by Normandie Locos members revealed how the clique made trips around the United States in an effort to create new cliques. The Normandie Locos has been found well-established in cities and towns in Los Angeles; Grand Prairie, Texas; Fairfax, Virginia; New York City; Miami; and throughout the East Coast.
Vertical Integration :
An October 2005 Los Angeles Times article reported that Central American gang leaders communicated directly with clique leaders in Maryland, revealing deeper truths of vertical integration within the MS-13. Federal indictments and testimony related to a case tried in Greenbelt district court in Maryland during August 2005 confirms the Los Angeles Times report.
Federal attorneys continue to prosecute the case against 22 alleged MS-13 gang members on conspiracy charges, six murders, and four attempted murders. Thus far, eight defendants have been proven guilty of racketeering conspiracy and assault with a deadly weapon to improve status within the MS-13 gang, among other charges. The jury cases against two defendants revealed direct communication between at least two Maryland cliques and MS-13 gang members based in El Salvador.
A clique known as the "Sailors," or "Marineros" in Spanish, is controlled by older MS-13 members incarcerated in the Ciudad Barrios prison, located in the mountains near San Miguel, El Salvador.
In early 2005, leaders of this clique discussed an area in the United States that would be an ideal target for an extension of their clique. According to the Los Angeles Times report, they chose the Maryland area because southern California was already controlled by other MS-13 cliques.
Marineros were sent to Maryland, where they quickly settled into the immigrant community in southern Maryland and formed the Sailors. The testimony of Sailors member Noe "Shorty" Cruz, which was made during a jury trial of one known leader of the Sailors clique, Edgar "Pony" Ayala, reveals the Sailors ran extortion schemes on prostitution houses and sent money back to El Salvador.
Another clique, known as the Teclas Locos Salvatruchos (T.L.S.), also operates in southern Maryland. Like the Sailors clique, members of the T.L.S. maintain ties to members of the same clique in El Salvador. Another defendant, Walter "Lil Loco" Barahona, was found with a videotape in his apartment in which T.L.S. members in El Salvador saluted Maryland T.L.S. members. Jose "Stomper" Constanza, formerly a member of the T.L.S. clique, testified that his clique had 26 members and met every 15 days in Beltsville, Maryland.
During meetings, the leaders took dues, between US$10 and $20 per member, discussed the activity of other cliques in the area, and talked about gang loyalty and the violation of gang rules. Dues, Constanza explained, were used to post bail, deposit into the accounts of incarcerated gang members, or purchase weapons.
T.L.S. leaders were required to confer with gang leaders in El Salvador, Constanza testified, to report on the status of the gang. El Salvadorian gang members would pass along instructions to gang leaders in Maryland. Constanza also noted that T.L.S. leaders communicated with other clique leaders in southern Maryland.
Authorities note that there are at least five MS-13 cliques in the area, and all appear to communicate with one another. Another member of the T.L.S., Lisbeth Delcid, acted as an intermediary between an incarcerated T.L.S. leader in Maryland, Henry S. Zelaya, and T.L.S. members in El Salvador.
Zelaya wrote letters to Delcid from prison, instructing her "to disseminate a message to an MS-13 gang member about how the gang should handle the leadership of Zelaya's clique while Zelaya was incarcerated, including instructing the gang member to make contact with other MS-13 gang members in El Salvador and to use Lisbeth Delcid as a conduit for passing information to Zelaya," according to the Greenbelt case indictment.
Zelaya's request for Delcid to act as a conduit between himself and gang members in El Salvador reveals constant communication between himself, as leader of the T.L.S. clique in Maryland, and clique members in El Salvador.
Documented cases of coordination and cooperation between MS-13 cliques across the United States and between the United States and Central America have galvanized law enforcement to rethink the strategy to combat the organization. Worried that the gang may be in the process of building a national command structure, U.S. agencies have had to respond.
The U.S. Response:
In response to growing concerns over MS-13 consolidation and penetration throughout the United States, law enforcement on all levels have begun to understand a greater need for coordination and information sharing on their part in order to dismantle the gang.
The F.B.I. launched a multi-agency MS-13 National Task Force in December 2004. The MS-13 Task Force was the first of its kind and represents the first time federal agents have marked a street gang for special attention from law enforcement. The task force works to dismantle the gang, concentrating on increasing and expediting the flow of information and intelligence, coordinating investigations and helping local and state law enforcement more easily identify the gang in their areas.
This task force maintains constant communication with an F.B.I. office recently opened in San Salvador, El Salvador. In Virginia, where the gang runs rampant, multi-jurisdictional law enforcement as well as state and federal law enforcement executives have formed their own Northern Virginia Gang Task Force -- a partnership to interdict and disrupt gang activity in the area.
In order to understand crimes as part of a gang problem and not isolated acts, information sharing has become a must for law enforcement. In Maryland, software called GangNet has been purchased with federal funding to help monitor gang movements.
GangNet is an Internet-based software program that will create a database to streamline information sharing between law enforcement officials.
Specially trained officers, who will log on to the secure network with a password, can enter information on gang members -- such as a person's history, photographs of tattoos or scars -- and share with other police officers news of his or her latest arrest.
More than 500 agencies in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. are expected to participate. According to Thomas H. Carr, director of the Washington-Baltimore High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, which will oversee GangNet, the system will eventually be tied into gang information networks in California, New York, Ohio and other states.
The first officers should be able to log on by early February, and GangNet should be fully implemented in June. Over time, MS-13 related gang incidents will be mapped out, giving law enforcement a clear picture of the gang's concentration and migratory patterns in the Maryland area as well as across the country.
Two MS-13 members, part of the Greenbelt, Maryland case against 22 alleged members of various MS-13 cliques near Washington D.C., were convicted of racketeering under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (R.I.C.O.) statute.
The use of R.I.C.O. in the Maryland case marks a milestone in federal prosecutions of MS-13 gang members. R.I.C.O. was originally developed and used in federal courts to bring down the international criminal enterprises of the Mafia in the 1950s.
Its re-introduction into federal courts against MS-13 gang members will set a new precedent for use of the R.I.C.O. Act in future MS-13 cases. Federal prosecutors achieved convictions under the R.I.C.O. Act by convincing a federal jury that the defendants were not just part of a local street gang but members of an international crime organization.
Since the initiation of the Greenbelt case, evidence of high levels of organization between MS-13 cliques inside the United States has evolved from a common experience shared by various law enforcement officials to official public record.
Federal indictments and witness testimony provided by former MS-13 gang members currently protected by federal witness protection programs reveal solid MS-13 organization between cliques at regional and transnational levels. This evidence, however, falls short of suggesting a rigid, hierarchical organizational structure.
Thus far, various MS-13 cliques appear to work together, but it remains unclear if one clique retains command and control over a number of other cliques in the same city or region of the United States. Nor is it clear if cliques in Central America control cliques operating inside the United States.
Networks, communication, regular meeting, due collection, and loyalty to a number of unifying qualities such as gang colors, mottos, and violent activities brand the MS-13 as a highly organized street gang.
As the MS-13 grows, the rigidity of organization will be required to help the gang maintain order among dozens of cliques on U.S. streets.
Currently, U.S. law enforcement has made significant advances in dismantling MS-13 networks in pockets of the United States, but attention and effort to coordinate with and work alongside Central American authorities is lacking.
Much more effort, attention, and resources will be required before law enforcement from the federal level to suburban neighborhoods can begin to contain the fastest growing and arguably best organized street gang in the United States.
And the most ruthless and violent where no cruelty is too much nor any act too barbaric. Their inherent viciousness can only be matched by the worst of Islamic fanatics.
Indigo Red said:
MS-13 is also running candidates for small town offices. They have effectively taken controll of at least three towns in LA and Orange Counties in California.Even in my home town of Auburn, Calif, MS-13 is a presence that has yet to be dealt with. It's hard because they often start by owning legitimate businesses before intimidating the competition and others to sell out to MS-13.Ms-13 was shown to be among those who aided some of the 9/11 killers get into the US. They charge 30,000-50,000 USD per head. Rather cheap.
7:19 PM
Alan Peters said...
This MS-13 methodology you mention reminds me of the Hezbollah's infiltration into power in Lebanon
1:56 PM
MS-13 is also running candidates for small town offices. They have effectively taken controll of at least three towns in LA and Orange Counties in California.
ReplyDeleteEven in my home town of Auburn, Calif, MS-13 is a presence that has yet to be dealt with. It's hard because they often start by owning legitimate businesses before intimidating the competition and others to sell out to MS-13.
Ms-13 was shown to be among those who aided some of the 9/11 killers get into the US. They charge 30,000-50,000 USD per head. Rather cheap.
This MS-13 methodology you mention reminds me of the Hezbollah's infiltration into power in Lebanon
ReplyDelete