Mara Salvatrucha aka MS 13, one of the largest gangs in North and Central America and yesterday, 103 of its members were arrested by federal immigration officials. Triggered by fears that MS 13 may ally itself with al Qaeda in smuggling people in the US, Operation Community Shield was started. Over the past three weeks the arrests were made in Washington, Virginia, Baltimore, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Newark, N.J. A third of the arrests were in the DC area where gang violence has been exploding. When this Bostonist lived in DC, MS-13 was warring with the 1-5 Amigos. It seemed a daily occurence that another gangster was stabbed or shot. MS-13 had killed 11 people in Northern Virginia alone since 2000.
MS-13 is well known for their brutal machete attacks, rising membership, and intricate structure. The gang was formed by ex-guerillas who fled the civil war in El Salvador in the 1980's. MS-13 cliques are renowned for drug dealing, murder, exporting stolen cars, etc.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
