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Alleged members of a Central American street gang have been charged with the deaths of three New York teenagers, in a case cited by President Donald Trump. The victims included two girls who were attacked with a machete and baseball bats as they walked through the Brentwood neighbourhood of Long Island. Thirteen members of the MS-13 street gang and its affiliates have been charged in relation to the murders. Ten were citizens of El Salvador or Honduras who were in the US illegally.
A memorial to Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas is seen near the spot where their bodies were found in Brentwood
Kayla Cuevas, 16, was ambushed on 13 September last year because she had been feuding with MS-13 members at school and on social media, said investigators. Her best friend, Nisa Mickens, 15, happened to be with her when a carload of attackers, who had been prowling the neighbourhood in search of enemies, pulled up. Nisa "was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, hanging out with her childhood friend," said US Attorney Robert Capers. Their former Brentwood High School schoolmate, Jose Pena-Hernandez, 18, was an MS-13 member who was lured to woods last June by fellow gang members he thought were friends, police said. They stabbed him to death.
Some of the defendants, who range in age from 18 to 29, were charged with four other murders last year. The killings of two other Brentwood youths, ages 15 and 19, whose bodies were discovered last year in secluded spots remain unsolved. Last December, President Trump mentioned the Brentwood killings during a profile for his Time magazine Person of the Year award. "They come from Central America. They're tougher than any people you've ever met," he said. "They're killing and raping everybody out there. They're illegal. And they are finished."
MS-13 gang accused of New York murders - BBC News
ICE worked with the NYPD, as well as the Nassau and Suffolk County Police Departments, to make the busts. In total, they arrested 45 alleged gangbangers as part of their new "Operation Matador" initiative, which focuses on fighting MS-13 and other "transnational criminal gang activity" in New York City and Long Island, the feds said.
Twenty of those arrested have criminal records — including weapons and assault convictions, ICE said in a statement. Immigration arrests have steadily risen since President Trump took office, vowing to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal records. All of those arrested are men, authorities said.
Twenty-seven of the detainees come from El Salvador, 11 from Honduras, five from Mexico and two from Guatemala. Thirty-three of the arrests were in Suffolk County. There were eight arrests in Nassau County, three in Queens, and one in Brooklyn, authorities said. Twelve of these men — "all of which were confirmed MS-13 gang members" — entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors, ICE said.
ICE officers bust 39 MS-13 gang members in New York City
Judge Anne K. Albright gave Vanesa E. Alvarado, now 20, a life sentence with all suspended except 40 years, her lawyer, Timothy Clarke, told the Daily News. In June 2016, Alvarado helped orchestrate the brutal murder of Cristian Villagran-Morales, a Guatemalan-born landscaper. Morales thought he was going to have sex with Alvarado. Instead, he was stabbed 153 times by gang members she knew. Villagran-Morales was suspected of being a member of a rival group, even though family members denied that he was a part of any gang.
Alvarado pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. During the Montgomery Circuit Court sentencing, judge Albright called the attack “utterly brutal,” local media reported. Montgomery county “can’t tolerate violence of this kind,” the judge said. Clarke had asked the judge for a lighter sentence of 25 years, he told The News. He said that Alvarado "regrets her role in this criminal event and is certainly remorseful."
He noted, too, that she has two young children who live with her parents. “Some day in the next couple of years when there is no big crowd of people, I’ll see if I can get the sentence reduced,” he said. Alvarado said nothing during her sentencing, according to local media reports. The mother of the victim called her son’s attackers “horrible people” who “shouldn’t be in this country.” In addition to Alvarado, four others were charged in the killing. One of the four pleaded guilty this month, and charges against a second were dropped. Trials are pending for two others.
Woman who led man to fatal MS-13 gang attack gets 40 years
The effort, staged in the early hours of the morning in a bid to catch suspects off guard, came as a result of a years-long racketeering investigation. Roughly 1,000 officers from agencies including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Los Angeles Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement participated in the 40 raids that kicked off just before 4 a.m., the Los Angeles Times reported. Acting U.S. Attorney for California’s Central District during a press conference said Wednesday’s raids netted 21 federal defendants, with 44 total arrests, according to ABC. Federal agents told CNN the probe, which kicked off in June 2014, targeted the leadership and most violent members of the street gang as well as those gang members linked to the Mexican mafia.
Eric Harden, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said law enforcement hopes tackling the top players will cause confusion and disorganization in the lower ranks of MS-13. He’s worked to bring down the gang for decades, starting with his days as a street agent. “They’ve been here since the 80s and have thrived to this date,” he told the news station. “They’re a transnational international gang. Their level of brutality is extreme and high, similar to what we read about and hear with the drug trafficking cartels in Mexico.”
MS-13 was started in Los Angeles nearly 40 years ago by immigrants from El Salvador, many of whom were fleeing the civil war in their home country. It now boasts nearly 30,000 members worldwide, with more than 10,000 of them residing in the United States. The gang has made its way back in the spotlight in recent weeks, thanks in part to President Trump, who specifically spoke of MS-13 on Twitter. Last month, Trump blamed the Obama administration for the gang’s widespread reach, specifically pointing to the former president’s immigration policy. Officials told CNN the investigation that prompted the raids began under the Democratic administration and former FBI Director James Comey.
Dozens of MS-13 gang members arrested in Los Angeles raids
With roots among war refugees from El Salvador in Los Angeles in the 1980s, MS-13, also known by its Spanish name “Mara Salvatrucha,” has morphed into one of the largest and most violent gangs in the United States, boasting an estimated 10,000 members. But much of its leadership remains in El Salvador from where they plan and orchestrate “some significant murders” in the U.S., cases that local prosecutors are unable to investigate, according to Kenneth Blanco, assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s criminal division.
As part of its fight against the gang, the Justice Department’s criminal division coordinates with the Central American governments to gather leads and evidence for prosecuting gang members in the United States and to target others “before they ever reach U.S. ports of entry,” Blanco told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on MS-13 Wednesday. “The department’s ultimate goal is to dismantle the entire leadership structure of MS-13, including those members who reside overseas,” Blanco said.
A member of the MS-13 gang attends mass at a prison in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador, March 26, 2012. U.S. law enfrocement aims to dismantle the entire leadership structure of the MS-13, including those members who are active overseas.
FBI vetted foreign investigative units in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to probe MS-13 and other gang members as well as locals responsible for criminal activity in the United States, while another Justice Department unit sends attorneys overseas to combat gangs, cartels, financial crimes, public corruption and other transnational criminal activities, he said. “You can help us take the fight where it emanates from to make sure those people never get here and those who are here go back,” Blanco said.
Terrorist organization?
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called the gang “one of the gravest threats to American safety,” and in April told a television interviewer that it could be designated a terrorist organization. Sessions later said he wasn’t certain whether the gang, the first street gang to be labeled a transnational criminal organization by the United States, meets the State Department’s standards to be designated as a terrorist organization. The Justice Department’s focus on MS-13 as part of its new tough on crime approach has drawn criticism that the administration is using it as a pretext to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the suspects include 445 foreign nationals from 21 countries, including Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Large amounts of drugs and guns, as well as nearly $500,000 in cash were also seized during raids in a number of large U.S. cities.
A total of 1,378 suspects were arrested, with 1,095 confirmed gang members. "Gangs threaten the safety of our communities, not just in major metropolitan areas but in our suburbs and rural areas too," said acting ICE chief Thomas Homan. "Gang-related violence and criminal activity present an ongoing challenge for law enforcement everywhere."
Those picked up include members of some of the country's most notorious and deadly gangs, including the Bloods, Surenos, MS-13, and the Crips. Their crimes include drug and weapons smuggling, human and sex trafficking, murder, and racketeering.
1,100 Gang Members Arrested in US Nationwide Crackdown
long knife was close. Three years ago driving in the Left coast, saw three kids come out of the brush and get into a car and drive off. 200 yards away two Deputy Sheriffs sitting in the median strip were bsing tight boarder patrol.Teenage kids with recognizable gang tattoos and DHS officials do nothing about them? That part of the claim of this article appears quite clear. However, the part about jihadists is given little space and no links. In any way, this is worth reading @ MS-13 gang members and jihadists let in over the border as children
Police in Guatemala say they have captured a leader of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, street gang. They tweeted that Ángel Gabriel Reyes Marroquín, known as Blanco (White), was found in the town of Chimaltenango, 50km (31 miles) west of the capital. He was reportedly wanted in connection with a gun attack on a hospital two months ago. ThWhitee gang operates internationally and was linked to the killings by machete of two girls in New York this year. It originated in Los Angeles but has roots in Central America. It has a reputation for extreme violence.
Ángel Gabriel Reyes Marroquín flanked by armed officers
One FBI gang specialist who has investigated the gang says its motto is "kill, rape, control". Local media report that the authorities believe Mr Reyes co-ordinated an armed attack on a hospital in August in which seven people were shot dead. Police suspect the attackers were trying to free one of their leaders, who was jailed and in the hospital under armed guard.
In 2014 Mr Reyes faced charges including murder and was detained in a maximum security prison. Prosecutors reportedly believed him to be connected to the deaths of at least 287 people. But he escaped, reportedly with the help of a group of people on motorbikes, while attending a medical appointment.
MS-13 'gang leader' captured in Guatemala
The latest was a mass murder on Monday on Long Island, where the bodies of four males, including three teenagers, were found mangled in the woods, according to police. President Trump tweeted to call the gang "bad". Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed to "devastate" it. Both blamed Obama-era immigration policy for its rise. But what is MS-13 and is Obama really to blame?
Face and chest tattoos identify members of Mara Salvatrucha
A reputation for extreme violence
The gang began in the barrios of Los Angeles in LA during the 1980s, formed by immigrants who had fled El Salvador's long and brutal civil war. Other members came from Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. The MS stands for Mara Salvatrucha, said to be a combination of Mara, meaning gang, Salva, for Salvador, and trucha, which translates roughly into street smarts. The 13 represents the position of M in the alphabet. MS-13 established a reputation for extreme violence and for killing with machetes. It took root in neighbourhoods dominated by Mexican gangs, and later expanded to other parts of the country. According to the FBI, the gang has spread to 46 states. In 2012, the US Treasury designated the gang a "transnational criminal organisation". It was the first street gang to receive the dubious honour, placing it alongside much larger international cartels like the Mexican Zetas, Japanese Yakuza and Italian Camorra.
The gang was formed in LA by immigrants from El Salvador
Brutal initiations
MS-13 has been accused of recruiting poor and at-risk teenagers. Joining is said to require being "jumped in" - subjected to a vicious 13-second beating - and "getting wet" - carrying out a crime, often a murder, for the gang. Leaving is potentially even more dangerous. Large chest tattoos brand members for life, and some factions are said to murder members who attempt to leave. It is now larger outside the country, according to the agency. An anti-gang crackdown in the late 1990s saw hundreds of early members shipped back to Central American countries, where they established offshoots. Estimates put the number of members in Central American countries at at least 60,000. The gang's annual revenue is about $31.2m (£23.4m) according to information from a large-scale Salvadorean police operation obtained by the El Faro newspaper - mainly from from drugs and extortion.
An MS-13 member displays his tattoos in prison
'Kill, rape, control'
Recent high-profile cases linked to the gang include the murder of two female high-school students who were attacked with a machete and baseball bat as they walked through their neighbourhood in New York last month - a revenge attack over a minor dispute, according to police. Four alleged MS-13 members were charged with that crime. Another two alleged members were charged at the same time with the murder of a fellow gang member said to have violated gang protocol. The same month, two alleged members of the gang in Houston, Texas were charged with kidnapping three teenage girls, holding them hostage and raping them before shooting one dead on the side of the road. Miguel Alvarez-Flores, 22, and Diego Hernandez-Rivera, 18, laughed and waved at the cameras during their court appearance. MS-13's motto is "kill, rape, control", according to one FBI gang specialist who investigated the group.
Blaming Obama
Mr Trump and Mr Sessions have pointed the finger at former President Barack Obama over the spread of MS-13, alleging that his open-door immigration policies fuelled its growth. But the gang formed and flourished in the US long before Mr Obama came to power. MS-13 was identified as a significant threat in the 1990s, and a special FBI taskforce was convened against the gang in 1994. "The big surge was during Bush-Cheney when the drivers of illegal migration in Central America grew, when various crackdowns on crime filled prisons to bursting point, and when funding for rehabilitation programs declined," Fulton T Armstrong, a research fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University, told fact-checking website Politifact. "I have seen no evidence that the Obama administration can be blamed in any way for the existence or activities of the gang in the US," said Ioan Grillo, author of a book on US gang crime. The Obama administration also prioritised the deportation of gang criminals, including MS-13 members, in an aggressive deportation program.
The story behind the MS-13 street gang
