Adrien Morgan Mrs.Elder English 9 16 January 2014 Mara Salvatrucha MS -13 What is a gang? According to the Merriam Webster dictionary a gang is a group of criminals, a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs, or a group of people who are friends and who do things together (merriam-webster.com). Whichever definition you choose the MS – 13 is the first two definitions. “The Mara Salvatrucha or MS - 13, is perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere” (InSight Crime, “MS – 13). “MS - 13 started off in the barrios of Los Angles in the 1980s” (InSight Crime, “MS – 13). Today MS - 13's network extends clear down into Central America, Mexico, even in Canada. The gang is mostly made up of refugees from the wars that took place in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Other Mexican gangs ruled the illegal world around but the refugees that flooded northward quickly organized themselves into competing groups, the strongest of which was named Mara Salvatrucha. MS - 13 got their name from their Mexican surroundings. Mara is a Central American word that means gang, salva refers to El Salvador, and trucha is a slang word for clever or sharp. The MS - 13 gang started become noticed by other gangs like the Mexican Mafia. The Mexican Mafia recruited MS - 13 into their regional Latino alliance called the Sureños. The alliance offered more protection in the barrios and in prisons. In return, MS - 13 provided hitmen for the alliance and added the number 13. People join MS -13 or any other gang for a many reasons; they need money because in many places there are no jobs for the younger generation and they know that gangs make quite a bit of money so they join, in some c... ... middle of paper ... ...ang’s money income by selling and making a huge profit. MS – 13 is known for murder, drugs, rape, prostitution, and they assault many people. When they do the crimes they mostly use guns, machetes, or blunt objects. When they use blunt objects for weapons they are trying to intimidate locals, rival gangs, or the law enforcement. The FBI created a special task force to try to lower the growth of MS – 13 and the task force is called MS – 13 National Gang Task Force. This shows how serious MS – 13 is. To conclude a gang is a group of criminals, a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs. People join gangs for protection, money, or they need something to do. Gangs cause many problems like drug trafficking, gun trafficking, by murdering people, assaulting people, and use guns, machetes, blunt object, or all of them.
In the documentary of “The World’s Most Dangerous Gang” it reveals how it’s group gets followers. Children can be as young as eight and be recruited into MS 13. The name MS 13 is Mara Salvatrucha 13. Mara is the Spanish word for “group” or “clique”. Salvatrucha stands for “street smart”. The number 13 was chosen out of respect and because “M” is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet. When children or adults are adopted to this group they have to first go through the initiation process. This ritual consists of being beat up by members of MS 13 for thirty seconds.
The MS13 is a perfect example of a counterculture. They are a world within themselves. The gang is very organized and structured; there is hierarchy with the gang. There is a significant amount of money flow within the gang. A few ways the gang obtains money is by drug dealing, illegal weapons, vendors pay the gang to work in their territories and for their protection, and drug dealers also pay the gang to earn the right to sell drugs in their territories. There are laws and rules that a gang member must abide by. One very strict rule for a gang member is silence. If a gang member becomes informant and it is found out that they are, it will more than likely result in death for the informant. The breaking of laws and rules are punishable, even by death. They have a law system and law enforcement of their own. Check courting is a punishment served by the gang to gang members who break the laws of the gang. There are initiations one must endure to become a member of the gang. Jumping in is one of the initiations, a brutal thirteen second beating by multiple people at the same time. (World’s Most Dangerous Gang) There is a communication system within the gang. They use stacking to communicate, tattoos, graffiti, and an overall dialect that is unique to the gang. This counterculture exists internationally inside and outside of prison walls. Within the gang there are individual cliques, but when threatened they will come together and fight alongside one another. It is instilled in a gang member to kill to maintain territory and to acquire new territories. T...
They are a national gang. Of course, the gang is not as big here as where it originated in California. However, it is considered to be one of the largest gangs in the United States. That I do remember from gang class. Also, to be accepted into the gang, one must take a beating from members. This gang is known for violence and they do not hesitate to use extreme actions when protecting their turf against rivals or the police. They are big with the selling and distribution of crack cocaine, PCP along with other drugs. Other activities would be armed robberies, auto theft, assault and murder (Cruz, 2015).
Webster’s dictionary has several definitions for the meaning of gang. The definition that best fits for juveniles is a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs, or a group of people who are friends and who do things together. (Webster’s) One of the problems met by law enforcement and other professionals is the lack of a consistent definition of a gang. Generally a ga...
Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the sheer level of brutality used by their members that sets this cartel apart from all others. It is their disregard for human life and their ties to the United States drug markets that cause Los Zetas to pose a significant danger to border communities across the southern border of the U.S.
MS-13 originated in the streets of El Salvador in Central America in the 1980’s. When immigrants from El Salvador immigrated to the United States (originally Los Angeles), the gang members followed. They are considered by many to be one of the most dangerous gangs in the United States. Currently, MS-13 and its affiliated groups can be found in 42 out of 50 states, wreaking havoc wherever they go (MS-13 Threat). They also can still be found in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and from other Central American countries (MS-13 Threat).MS-13 flies colors blue and white, which they have taken from the El Salvadorian flag (Most Violent and Dangerous Gang). These gang members have many tattoos, and from the pictures I have seen, they usually have the letters “M” and “S” somewhere on their body. According to insightcrime.org, “there are 70,000 MS-13 members in the northern triangle”. This is primarily due to the influx of Central American immigrants we see in cities like Washington
Gangs are a group of people involved in illegal activity. They were formed over 200 years ago in the United States and have now reached approximately 1.4 million individuals. There are five different types of gangs. The traditional gang, the neo-traditional gang, the collective gang, the compressed gang, and the specialty gang are all different types of gangs. Captain Dexter Nelson, a spokesman for Oklahoma City police who used to work in the department’s gang unit, said “all gangs exploit areas that are less equipped or less willing to
A gang is a group of reoccurring individuals or close partners with a high potential leadership in a certain organization, taking control over territory in a specific area by either identifying themselves as to whom they are or claiming control, engaging individually or collectively in violence or other forms of illegal action. To become a part of gang in today’s world you show your loyalty by committing such crimes as murder, robbery and/or theft in order to be accepted as a member of its group [1].
Just like the Texas Syndicate, their main agenda is the selling of drugs in and out of prison. Each member has a tattoo of an eagle with a snake to represent the Mexican Flag and the initials EME as their identifying marks. They have so much power that the wives and girlfriends of members control the drug trafficking in the streets of California. They also created the term blood in, blood out. Blood in means being beaten until bloody during initiation, and blood out means there will be consequences if you depart from the gang.
Franco, C., (2007, May). The MS-13 and 18th street gangs:Emerging transnational gang threats, Retrieved from http://opencrs.com/document/RL34233/2007-11-02/download/1006/.
The differences between a club and a gang, are quite distinct, but it is the connotational differences between these two words which distinguishes one from the other. The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language defines a club as; "...an association of people with some common interest who meet periodically..." It defines a gang as "...a number of men or boys banding together, esp. lawlessly..." This definition is traditionally slanted toward applying to male youth, and stereotypical gangsters, from the Mafia to street criminals. Persons who often have a negative attitude toward youth see gangs. Often individuals form gangs out of fear and for the protection of their members whether they are the Bloods and Crips of Los Angeles or the Sharks and the Jets of "West Side Story." Gangs may not possess a set of formal written rules, but all of them have their own sets of customs or conditions. Gangs may or may not be facilitated in a branch of higher and lower members, mimicking a military model. Gangs often have a loosely defined set of goals, and are often involved in delinquent activities.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
A gang is a group of people who interact among themselves. Teen violence is contributed to these gangs. Most gangs claim neighborhoods as their territory and try to control everything inside that territory. This kind of antisocial behavior is a major problem in American Society.
Power and territory became their motives over time. In the film, one of the inmates stated MS 13 is run by one leader. Other sources say there are multiple. The scariest attribute about MS 13 is that they are an at home U.S. threat, that we have only scratched the surface of. MS 13 is growing numbers and going national. They are not only street thugs, but officials and businessmen in suits. MS 13 is organized and structured. They recruit kids as young as seven. A seven year old will get a less harsh sentence than an adult. Jail is also a prime spot for recruiting and education criminals that will be released. As I expressed before, they go in as novice members and come out as career trained criminals. Why is jail an important step, a lot of MS 13 business are run by leaders in jail. The film showed that in jail leaders have access to protection, healthcare, and a simple life with power. In some jails, MS 13 are the only occupants. MS 13 is a well oiled machine. Nothing happens without the green light of a leader. Brenda Paz, for example, was a seventeen year old gang member, murdered by her friends for being a FBI informant. This did not happen without a thorough gang investigation. Like I said before, the only way out of MS 13 is death. Even if we cut the head off of the snake, its venom already runs through the U.S like a virus. The U.S. accidently created a monster by ignoring the gang issues to begin with. Now they are a powerful influence on our culture.
The definition of street crimes as previously stated are crimes such as mugging, burglary, and gang related killings. MS-13 is a gang in which they have violent and brutal tendencies but also have several organized crime tendencies as well. For example, MS members in Central America are killing people and then removing the heads and genitals to feed to their dogs. They are known for killing, extorting, the brutal recruitment and initiation process. This is where they basically jump the new member with multiple guys for 10-30 seconds if not more. They also have a name for the way they treat traitors or betrayers. It is called check courting. This is the process in which someone is being punished for their betrayal of MS-13 in any way. Sometimes members are just beat up. Other times they are actually killed. The decisions of how the betrayer will be treated is based about the severity of his or her crimes. They also do have a drug trade system as well. This is another part of their street crime organization. They can supply anyone with anything as long as they pay enough for it. They can even get you any type of medication that you needed because they have doctors on their payrolls and they also have legal members in their pockets as well. They extort small businesses and any trucks or street vendors. This is because they are charging them for protection and the ability to sell or be parked in their