MS-13: Just how dangerous are they?

Other than their sheer brutality, there are several reasons why MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), stands out among other well-known street gangs like the Bloods, the Crips, or the Mexican Mafia. For one, MS-13 holds the unique distinction as being the only gang labeled by the Justice Department as a transnational criminal organization.

Violent street gangs have existed in the United States for a long time. Statistically, there tends to be a higher concentration of street gang activity in more densely-populated urban areas, and they may form for a multitude of reasons ranging from socioeconomic to territorial. Yet while street gangs are often very violent, MS-13 seems to have reached a level of utter depravity few have ever realized, and perhaps even fewer are prepared for.

Other than their sheer brutality, there are several reasons why MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), stands out amongst other well-known street gangs like the Bloods, the Crips, or the Mexican Mafia. For one, MS-13 holds the unique distinction as being the only gang labeled by the Justice Department as a transnational criminal organization. This essentially places the gang in a similar category to one held by terrorist organizations. MS-13 has an estimated 30,000 members internationally, with a suspected 6,000 members within the United States spanning through approximately 46 states – and they continue to grow. New members, nicknamed paros, are normally recruited as young as 14-15 years-old. The gang generally targets their recruitment around local high schools in towns and neighborhoods with a high concentration of immigrant residents. And in order to become full-fledged members, known as homeboys, new members are often required to commit murder.

Yet as frightening as this may sound, many members are also generational, with an ancestry stemming from the Sandinistas in El Salvador. This means, the original members of MS-13 were military-trained forebearers to the gang currently terrorizing neighborhoods within the U.S., and who are now apparently utilizing similarly brutal methods and tactics imported from areas of El Salvador still ravaged from years of civil war and upheaval. At present, El Salvador is considered to be the most violent country in the western hemisphere, with a murder rate of 104.2 per 100,000 residents. In 2015, El Salvador had a recorded 6,640 homicides.

It is this brand of viciousness and use of terror tactics that tends to set MS-13 apart from other well-known American street gangs, even amongst those with larger memberships. According to the Office of the Attorney General of the United States, MS-13 gang members “often commit murders using machetes, knives, and chains in order to intimidate rival gang members.” These methods also have the expected byproduct of frightening local residents of their respective communities out of testifying or reporting gang activity.

Members of Mara Salvatrucha will often engage in incredibly violent and bloody attacks that are in a manner often referred to by homicide detectives as an “overkill.” Just recently in May of 2017 a mother of two, Vanessa Alvarado, 20, of Montgomery County, Maryland was sentenced to 40 years in prison for her role in the murder of 18 year-old Chris Villagran Morales. Alvarado lured Morales into a park with the promise of a sexual encounter. He was ambushed by several MS-13 gang members and stabbed 153 times, while Alvarado reportedly looked on and laughed.

These types of attacks by MS-13 are hardly unique and they are distinctly designed for far more than the elimination of a rival gang member. Such bloodletting is often for the purpose of exacting fear in any would-be witness or informant. MS-13 members have become known for engaging in brutal attacks that result in the severing of limbs and even the beheading of victims. According to the Justice Department, “violence is a central tenet of MS-13 as evidenced by its core motto – ‘mata, viola, controla’ translated as kill, rape, control.” These activities alone make MS-13 more akin to organizations like ISIS or Al Qaeda, rather than an ordinary street gang.

What also makes MS-13 somewhat unique from other street gangs is the types of crimes they are committing. Like nearly all violent street gangs, MS-13 commit murders and use the sale of drugs as their primary sources of income. However, there are other activities which earn them the label as a transnational criminal organization.

Earlier this year 56 alleged leaders of MS-13, from a number of communities in the Boston area, were indicted for a host of charges ranging from RICO violations, murders, and firearms offenses. However, also outlined in this list of indictments were multiple counts of trafficking, immigration offenses, and fraudulent document charges. These types of activities show a startling pattern that with such a large membership outside the U.S., from countries like El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, MS-13 members in America are part of a larger, more complex international network. Moreover, since some, if not all of these countries, do not readily engage in extradition with the United States, smashing the larger network becomes a far more difficult process, by placing many in the greater organization beyond the reach of American law enforcement agencies.

This indictment also shows that there is a concerted effort for gang members to travel back and forth from these countries, evade law enforcement, as well as keep them in close contact with higher-ranking members of the gang. Likewise, this capacity to obtain fraudulent documents allows MS-13 to engage in international smuggling activities.

Oddly while local chapters, called cliques, make their violence deliberately well-known, many of their other illicit activities and transactions activities fly below the radar. As reported by Insight Crime’s Leonardo Goi, a seizure of a ledger found in the possession of a female MS-13 member in El Salvador, known only by her nickname La Chacala, depicts purchases in amounts closer to hundreds or thousands. Much of the funds were procured through extortion, with a large percentage of the money going towards the purchase of weaponry. However, some of the money was used for rather benign items like cell phones, motorbike repairs, and a dialysis machine. Nevertheless, monies that are used in small operational sums become harder to detect and can be dispersed amongst cliques without drawing too much attention from law enforcement.

Several of these aspects are generating high levels of concern from law enforcement officials and members of the U.S. Justice Department. Just recently Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Long Island, New York, where a chapter of MS-13 is causing considerable havoc, particularly in a suburb known as Brentwood. As recently as March of 2017, 13 members of MS-13 were charged with the murder of seven Brentwood High School students. The 41 count indictment included charges of murder, assault, attempted murder, obstruction of justice, arson, and weapons violations. Some charged with these crimes are currently incarcerated. Among Attorney Session’s concerns was the reluctance to turn convicted MS-13 gang members, who are undocumented, over to ICE for deportation.

It is clear that all street gangs are a scourge to their communities, and their activities affect residents on a multitude of levels. Amongst these other gangs, MS-13 is becoming one of the most dangerous internal threats this country has faced. Their brutality and their international ties present unique challenges that law enforcement in many smaller communities will need a lot of support to meet. Federal agencies will need to continue towards a path of cooperation with local law enforcement, expand intelligence capabilities, and engage greater community outreach efforts to face this threat head-on and defeat it.