MS-13

 

Who Is MS-13?

 

We often hear about MS-13 in the news, at first; some 15 years ago, they were like a cult like gang because of the little information we had on them. Being that the members swore secrecy and not speaking to outsiders. A majority of them were also illegal immigrants so they had to keep under the radar. Sure, the gang did start in Los Angeles, California but they soon got deported back to El Salvador where the gang grew rapidly. Los Angeles was already hailed as a gang capital; so, they decided to move more suburban areas like the Bay Area, Central California, Washington State, and other suburbs throughout the U.S. like Virginia, Long Island, Maryland, and New Jersey. Although you have gangs in that area too, but MS-13 did not have any records with law enforcement there because they had almost zero-to-no history in those areas and they could easily start fresh. They wanted to spread their numbers and make money for the gang by way of trafficking (drugs, arms, human), racketeering, murder, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, robbery, illegal immigration, battery, and prostitution.

In the book, MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang; author Steven S. Dudley takes us into a journey into the gang. The media used MS-13 to gain numbers in scare tactics and especially around election time to get people to be against illegal-immigration. They are used as a way to get Americans to favor the border wall. Even though they make up less than 1% of those crossing into America for asylum. In fact, those that are crossing the border; many of them are fleeing MS-13. The book A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central by Oscar Martine thought us that. How it all started and the current state of the gang today.

The gang started in the 1980s when Salvadorian refugees sought asylum into the U.S. and settled in Los Angeles which was near the border and already had a Latino enclave making it easier for them to transition, so they thought. Central America was ravaged by gorilla assaults from Cold War proxy wars like that of Vietnam and Afghanistan. When Salvadorian immigrans arrived to the U.S., they had a hard time settling in due to a crumpled economy Reaganomics. The youth in particular, there was a language berrier, and they looked different. They were Central Americans rather than Chicanos. These differences made them an easy prey to more seasoned gangs or children of stabled immigrants, like Chicano, Vietnamese, and Black gangs. They were being picked on, primarily by Sureños mainly at MacArthur park where they would hang out and smoke pot while listening to Heavy Medal. This is where they adapted the devil horns into their gang symbolisms. Soon, some began to practice Satanism and cannibalism. As a result, to protect themselves they formed La Mara Salvatrucha. They soon got into many skirmishes with the Sureños and the multi-ethnic subgroup; 18-Street. After many battles, the Sureños leaders La Eme stepped in. They offered them protection in exchange for street taxes from their criminal activities. That is when the “13” was added into MS, La Mara Salvatrucha-13; being the 13^th letter of the alphabet; M stood for the Mexican Mafia.

The author follows characters within the book and their journey into America. It is a little difficult to follow along because of the many stories and tracing it to the right character. It follows the characters of Norman who joined the gang at a young age then leads into other characters like Alex, Christian, or Alma. They take advantage of disadvantaged youth in exchange of belonging; the youth give them their life in engage in criminal activity. Girls do not get off too easily. They have to partake in crime but offer even more, and that’s sex. Many of the members if not most come from broken homes of violence, alcohol and drug abuse, abuse, and sexual molestation. The gang offers them protection, and for a kid who is in desperate need of that, it is an easy thing to accept.

Although the gang is spread throughout the United States and Central America (Honduras, Guatemala) and Mexico; the ultimate command comes from El Salvador. Murders and criminal activities have to be discussed with the leaders in El Salvador first, who also gets a cut. Fortunately, the gang is not as sophisticated as other criminal organizations like Cosa Nostra, Triads, Russian Mafia, Albanians, Hells Angels, Greeks, Chicanos, Jamaicans, and by some accounts Black organized crim gangs. Meaning, they do not have a foothold in America like previous gangs who have now become household names. They do not get into more prominent crimes like Wall Street, the gasoline industry, or big cartels. If they cross path to El Salvador, Colombian and others passing through have to pay a toll fee. However, they are equally if not more brutal than those other gangs because they do not live by a code. Which is what makes MS-13 a scary gang. Like Nabra Hassanen who was sexually assaulted and later killed by a MS-13 member in Reston, Virginia. Hassanen was walking to a local mosque with some friends after a trip to McDonald’s when they came across Darwin Martinez who got into a fit of road rage and ran towards the girls. Her friends made it into the mosque safely but Hassanen did not and sadly became a victim of Martinez.

The book was very well written and gave us an understanding of the formation of the gang and some of the criminal activities involved. It went into details with some of the characters within the gang. It formed an insight on why young men and women would want to be a part of such gang. The write is not trying to instruct us who to hate or accept or praise but rather it instructs the reader on the population presented and the real-world decisions they have to make. I would not say Dudley is trying to sympathize gang members, but rather takes us on a journey in their shoes.

 

References:

Dudley, S. (2020). MS-13: The making of Americas most notorious gang. London: Blink publishing.

Ávalos, Héctor Silva, and Juan José Martínez. “MS13 in the Americas How the World’s Most Notorious Gang Defies Logic, Resists Destruction.” InSight Crime, InSight Crime, 26 Jan. 2016, https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1043576/download.