“Kill, rape, control.” That's the motto for Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a transnational criminal organization dubbed “the most dangerous gang in the world.” The gang was formed in the ‘80s and has its roots in the fertile gang soil of Los Angeles. MS-13 is predominantly made up of Salvadoran immigrants who sought refuge in the United States during their civil war, and is known for horrendous acts of violence throughout Central and North America. Members prefer machetes and knives to guns, as such weapons make a kill more personal and agonizing. Above all else, members of Mara Salvatrucha are best known for their tattooed faces, a sign of loyalty that scares the sh*t out of people.
MS-13 originated with a flood of young immigrants to the United States in the ‘80s. There's evidence the gang started even earlier, in the '70s, with the punk rock and heavy metal scenes, but the gang as it's known today began with the Diaspora of refugees who fled El Salvador during a bloody civil war. Between 1980 and 1990, the population of Salvadoran immigrants in the US increased from 94,000 to 465,000. Many settled in the Los Angeles area.
A lot of these immigrants were young men who grew up around violence, so naturally gravitated towards it. When they arrived in LA, they were thrown into a system of established Latin (mostly Mexican) gangs, where they weren't welcome; they had to prove themselves as a force to be reckoned with. The word “mara” is a Central American term for gang, “salva” comes from El Salvador, and “trucha” is slang for clever. The term salvatrucha is historically used to described peasants trained as guerilla fighters.
MS-13 is not a homogenous group, but is broken into cliques united under a transnational identity. The gang is believed to have started in Pico-Union, adjacent to downtown Los Angeles, though many cliques existed in the greater LA area in the early '90s. Among the first was La Fulton, which began in 1991 in the San Fernando Valley. Its leader’s nickname was Satan. La Fulton was fighting for control of the area with more than 75 other gangs. Eventually, they made an alliance with the Mexican mafia and their notoriety grew throughout the city.
CALIFORNIA FAILED TO ARREST AND REMOVE THESE ILLEGALS AND NOW THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IS AT RISK OF ATTACKS!
In 1996, in an effort to get "tough on illegal immigration," Congress passed a law allowing for the deportation of any immigrant criminal who had received a jail sentence of one year or more. This led to tens of thousands of deportations, among them many members of MS-13. The gang began arriving in its home nations in Central America just as the US government realized MS-13 was a serious problem. As many as 20,000 Central Americans were deported between 2000 and 2004.
Many of these young men were kids when they first arrived in the US, and hardly spoke Spanish. It was difficult for them to readjust to life in their communities, so they stuck close to fellow deportees. Ironically, this deportation policy contributed greatly to the growth and spread of Mara Salvatrucha. Because none of the gang members had criminal records in their native countries, they were left alone by authorities, and quickly set up new chapters of the gang.
The Gang Has 50,000 Members in Multiple Countries and 42 US States
According to 2008 FBI estimates, Mara Salvatrucha spans 42 US states and is comprised of about 50,000 members worldwide. There are cliques from California to Long Island; MS-13 crimes have even occurred in Canada. Tens of thousands of members are located in Central America, with high concentrations in Guatemala and Honduras.
Outside traditional bases in the US and Central America, much recent Mara Salvatrucha expansion has taken place in Mexico. The gang moved across the Guatemalan border to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and got involved in human trafficking, working with people hoping to sneak through Mexico on their way from Central America to the US. MS-13 involvement in human trafficking resulted in partnerships with organizations like Los Zetas, Mexico's most notorious drug cartel.
Human trafficking is big business for Mara Salvatrucha. Members recruit young Central American immigrants, usually girls, some recently arrived in the US, others shipped in by the gang, as well as female runaways, and force them into prostitution.
Many of the girls have a history of sexual abuse. In 2009, there were nine child prostitution rings discovered in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, most run by MS-13. If such activity is indicative of gang activity in all territories, the number of operations and victims could be staggering.
Such activity is easy money for the gang; they barely spend anything on the product (young girls), because they get it for free. According to NPR, the only thing the gang has to spend on regarding the girls is drugs and alcohol to keep them subdued.
MS-13 is notorious for violence and brutality. The gang's motto is “mata, viola, controla” or, kill, rape, control. Members don’t just do drive by shootings, they get personal, using machetes because they are cheaper and more savage than firearms.
“MS-13 glorifies violence above all else,” said Assistant US Attorney Julia Martinez. Martinez was involved in a case where a young man, Adoni Martinez Aguilar, was lured into a park in Washington DC by MS-13 members, stabbed repeatedly with knives and machetes, then decapitated. He owed them $600.
Along with rival gang Barrio 18, Mara Salvatrucha made El Salvador the murder capital of the world. The country's homicide rate is 22 times that of the US. In the first few months of 2016, there was a murder every hour in the country. In 2015, there were 6,656 murders in El Salvador, the highest homicide rate in the world for a nation not at war.
Becoming a MS-13 member isn't an easy task, and certainly not one for the faint of heart. To become a “homeboy,” prospective members, or “chequos” have to murder a member of a rival gang. After that, senior members of the clique vote on whether the candidate is worthy. If the chequo gets enough votes, he has to submit to a brutal beating, during which he's pummeled by members while they slowly count to 13. If he doesn't get enough votes, sure was a waste murdering that rival gang member.
After becoming a member, small violations could lead to serious beatings, like being drunk in public or pulling out a gun. More serious violations, like failing to have your homie’s back, are punishable by death.
Penal de Ciudad Barrios is a prison in the Las Victorias district of San Salvador run by MS-13. There are no guards in the prison walls. Instead, it's guarded from the outside by the Salvadoran army. The prison ended up in Mara Salvatrucha hands for two reasons: (1) MS-13 couldn't be housed with other criminals or gang populations, because they would kill them all; and, (2) the inside of the prison is too dangerous for guards.
The prison was built to house about 800 inmates but, as of 2015, is home to around 2,600. Within the prison is a semblance of society, with each inmate filling a role. The prison has bakers, carpenters, and even nurses (though maybe not people with nursing degrees or training). They’re not exactly the embodiment of Florence Nightingale, but they do help take care of their own.
Brenda Paz ran away to join the MS-13 as a young girl. She became one of the most well-known witnesses against the gang, and did not live to see her 19th birthday. “Women in her gang rarely spoke back to the men, but Brenda could do so because she was the girlfriend of the group’s leader, the only man who reserved the right to beat her,” Samuel Logan wrote in This is for the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America’s Most Violent Gang.
In 2001, in Virginia, Brenda witnessed her boyfriend, Veto, kill her friend Javier Caldaza in cold blood. In 2002, she was picked up by police in relation to an auto theft and started talking. The information she gave federal and state authorities proved so valuable they placed her in the witness protection program. “She wasn’t just a witness. She was like the Rain Man of witnesses,” said her court-appointed lawyer, Greg Hunter.
Brenda was moved to a new state and given the chance at a new life, but she was naïve, and her attraction to the gang remained strong. While in witness protection, Brenda got lonely and contacted old friends. She escaped protection twice to meet up with gang members. She even let them visit her safe-house in Minneapolis.
In the summer of 2003, Brenda fled witness protection for the final time, returning to Virginia. Her friends had already put a hit out on her. Three weeks after she escaped Minnesota, her mutilated body was found by two fisherman on a riverbank.
Many MS-13 members are covered head to toe (mostly all over their heads) in tattoos. Not only does this make them look scary, it's a way to display loyalty to the group. Many of the tattoos have meanings related to gang culture and history and crimes members have committed.
The Daily Caller reached out to Latin American transnational criminal activity expert Douglas Farah to get insight into MS-13 tattoo culture. Like yakuza tattoos, M3-13 ink is meant to tell a story. “[They] went from the stage where they were starting to tattoo and telling stories through their tattoos on their bodies, including the famous ones on their backs,” Farrah said. “There’s a lot of symbology mixed in, an entire sort of language.”
“Everything has to add up to 13. If you ask them about their tattoos, they’ll show you how 13 matches up on everything, which is really the magic number for them,” Farah continued. Members often have the numbers six and seven tattooed on their body, which add up to 13.
Read more: http://www.ranker.com/list/mara-salvatrucha-facts-and-stories/katia-kleyman Hands clasped together in prayer are a common symbol, indicative of the phrase “forgive me mother for my crazy life.” Three points in a triangle also mean “my crazy life.” Spider webs are usually found on the shoulders, and are meant to symbolize growth and expansion. MS-13 tattoos also have a lot of religious symbolism, a mixture of Christian and Satanic imageery representing the struggle between good and evil in themselves.
The Gang Is Phasing Out Face Tattoos to Avoid Easy Identification of Members
Though tattooing is a big part of MS-13 culture, the gang is slowly phasing it out, especially the face tattoos, says Latin American criminal expert Douglas Farah. “The gangs stopped tattooing now pretty much. They initially stopped because they didn’t want to be identified but now it’s become a sort of cultural landmark because they view themselves as being past that stage.”
The decision to cool it with flagrant gang identification through tattoos stems, at least in part, from El Salvador's implementation of tough policing practices referred to as “Mano Dura,” or Hard Fist.
“For that reason, numerous interviews on the ground in Central America suggest that MS-13 and other groups are limiting their tattoos and even encouraging some members to avoid them now. As the groups have ‘professionalized’ and are less focused on the community element of local gang membership, this pragmatic step of avoiding tattoos has made the gangs more difficult to detect,” Southern Pulse said.
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