Talk:MS-13/ Incorporating M18

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This article is going to bring the M18 into the MS article ready for publication. I can't edit it in one fell swoop so I will do it at this page, watching for any changes in original article. --SqueakBox 01:25, Apr 1, 2005 (UTC)

Mara Salvatrucha, MS-13 or "MS", and Mara 18 or M18, are 2 street gang from El Salvador that currently also have a strong presence in Honduras and a weaker one in Guatemala. They are deadly rivals, and initiation rites to enter one or other gang often involve killing an enemy of the other gang. They emerged in the 1980s during El Salvador's violent civil war, and also from illegal Salvadoran immigrants in the United States of America.

Beginnings

The civil war in El Salvador prompted many families in that country to move to the United States in the late 1980s. Many Salvadoran refugees ended up in Los Angeles, California, and other surrounding areas. Salvadoran youths were not readily accepted by other Hispanics in the area and were often attacked by Hispanic street gangs. In the Los Angeles area, the Salvadoreans formed MS-13 as a means of protecting themselves from other street gangs. MS-13 soon became involved in a lengthy list of criminal offenses that included drug and weapons trafficking, burglaries, auto thefts, car jacking, extortion, murder, rape, witness intimidation, illegal firearm sales, car theft and aggravated assaults.

Geographical presence

The age of an MS-13 or M18 member can range from as young as 11 to as old as 50. While mainly found in Central America and in Los Angeles they can now be found in 33 US states including the rest of California, Washington DC, Oregon, Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and Rhode Island. MS-13 and M18 have also been active in Canada and Mexico. Many of the initial MS-13 and M18 members were former guerrilla fighters from the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) paramilitary group. Members of the FMLN group were trained in firearms, explosives and booby traps. There is no centralization or hierarchy among the gangs from different regions, although a 2004 report by the National Drug Intelligence Center of the US says that chapters of MS-13 and M18 in different areas may be trying to set up coordination networks.

When it first began in the U.S., MS-13 and M18 only allowed Salvadorans as members but today the gangs now includes members from as far afield as Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Ecuador,. MS-13 and M18 have some blacks as members, particularly in the US and in the north of Honduras. Members are strongly encouraged to get tattoos on their body that express their alligence to MS-13. Those who join are expected to remain members for life, and anyone who leaves the gang is killed. Recently, a teenage female in Long Island, New York, who was an MS-13 member but left the gang so she could return to high school and go to college, first received death threats and then was gunned down by her former friends in MS-13 for leaving the gang. Her parents were making plans to move her out of the state so that she could be beyond MS-13's reach and have a clean start, but they were too late. It is not uncommon for ex-members to leave the state after they quit MS-13. Many ex-members who leave MS-13 leave the state that they lived in to get a fresh start and to avoid death at the hands of MS-13 members.

The origin of the names

The name come from the Spanish word Marabundi, which is a type of ant. In Salvadoran slang the word had also come to mean posse. Salvatrucha was a word for a hard young man. The origins of "13" and 18 are not certain, the letter "M" is the thirteenth letter of alphabet, a frequently used letter in names fo Southern California Latino gangs, and used to distinguish it from the Northern California gangs, which use the number "14". The number "13" is also used symbolically in the gang's rites of passage. A final initiation of new recruits is a savage 13-second beating done by fellow gang members as these new members lie still in prone positions. Additionally, the 13-seconds is used a punishment by MS-13 on its own members for failing to attack rival gangs upon encountering them. Those being punished may often be beaten with baseball bats and machetes, and endure beatings the last up to 26-seconds and 39-seconds (note number "13" divisible factor in 26 and 39.)

Gang markings

MS-13 members have tattoos on most of their upper body, including the arms and face, with lettering done in Gothic style. The "MS" and "13" is always tattooed on them. Other tatoo marks include the letters "SUR" for sureño or "southerner", and pentagrams. Typical attire of members is blue and white pro sport jerseys, often with the number "13", (blue and white are national colors of El Salvador), bandanas, and Nike sneakers.

Methods of Crime

MS-13 is not an average street gang as its criminal operations sometimes crosses borders into other countries. The group also maintains close links with its the MS-13 faction back in El Salvador which equips MS-13 members in the USA with military firepower and hardware. The gang is also unusual in its methods of attack. MS-13 is very violent and has attacked with such aggression that hardened gang members of rival street gangs like the Bloods have gone to the police to ask for protection. MS-13 has also shown no fear of U.S. law enforcement. Where other gangs desperately avoid confrontations with law enforcement, MS-13 actively seeks out such confrontations. Members have threatened and attacked officers to avoid arrest or ambushed officers conducting surveillance operations. In one city, MS-13 members were brazen enough to follow police and FBI agents that belong to an anti-gang task force to their homes and conducted surveillance and took down notes and personal information on these officers and their families. MS-13 members sometimes booby trap their vehicles and homes in an effort to maim or kill law enforcement officers that may stage a surprise raid on MS-13 members. It is said that MS-13 actively encourages member to kill or maim police who interfere with them.

The gang is quite savage in some of its crimes. In October, 2002, MS-13 thugs raped two teen deaf girls in Somerville, Massachusetts, one of those girls was confined to a wheelchair due to a neurological disorder. In May of 2004, gang members chased down a 16-year old of a rival gang and hacked four of his fingers off with machetes. In Long Island, New York, September, 2004, the bodies of two more MS-13 victims were found, one repeatedly stabbed to death, the other shot in the head. In December 2004, MS-13 members near San Pedro Sula, Honduras, encircled a bus on a crowded city street and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles in a seemingly unprovoked attack. 28 people were killed, of whom 22 were women and children.

Many cars stolen by MS-13 end up on the streets of El Salvador. In fact, U.S. law enforcement believes that as many as 80% of the cars being driven in El Salvador may have been stolen in the U.S.

The U.S. law enforcement community considers MS-13 to be the most dangerous street gang in that country today.

Suspected ties with Al-Qaida

Law enforcement throughout the USA has begun to crackdown hard on MS-13 after it was rumored that members of the international Islamist terrorist group Al Qaida (القاعدة) has been in secret talks with members of MS-13 in Honduras and in Washington DC. Authorities do not know what the talks were about but the possibility of al-Qaida and MS-13 forming even a loose alliance is enough for law enforcement to come down on MS-13 with a "pull-no-punches" attitude.

Sworn enemies

One group sworn to eradicate MS is the Sombra Negra ("Black Shadow") death squad. Sombra Negra is a vigilante group made up of police and soliders in El Salvador that is not controlled by the government. Sombra Negra hunts down and executes all types of criminals, but its specialty is hunting down MS-13 members and executing them. Sombra Negra is said to match the MS-13 and possibly even surpass it in terms of violence and brutality. It is said that MS-13 is deadly afraid of Sombra Negra to the point that there have been several documented incidents where MS-13 members have poured acid on tattoos indentifying them as MS-13 members and then using a cheese grater to scrape off the skin that the tattoo is on. Many MS-13 members in the U.S. are there illegally and are afraid of being deported back to El Salvador where they believe they will face certain death at the hands of Sombra Negra upon their return. It is believed by law enforcement and gang experts that Sombra Negra may be the cause of many of MS-13's most hardcore members leaving El Salvador and coming to the U.S. where law enforcement does not use death squads to hunt down and execute criminals on the streets like they do in El Salvador.

Ernesto Miranda, a.k.a. Smokey, who is a co-founder of the MS in Los Angeles left the gang and is helping children to stay out of gangs. [1]

In March 2005, the United States government announced a crackdown on MS-13. 103 individuals were arrested in seven cities.

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