Three leaders of the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha collectively participated in or planned four Washington area murders during a span of about two years, a federal prosecutor said yesterday as the second racketeering trial involving members of the gang got underway in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
The racketeering prosecution is part of a broad investigative and legal offensive launched against the gang in 2005 by federal, state and local authorities.
Although the presence of gangs in the US’s major cities is not a new phenomenon however, MS 13 is something that US Govt. has really taken up seriously. The government suggests that the gang is a highly organized enterprise that works together locally, nationally and even internationally. This gang abides by the ethos, rape, kill, and control.
Over the years, the MS-13 has grown and its members moved beyond Los Angeles into other US cities. An MS-13 presence has been spotted in over 33 US states as well as the District of Columbia. There are an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 MS-13 members in the US, according to the US Department of Justice.
In recent years, law enforcement officials have attributed dozens of local homicides and nonfatal assaults to the gang, with most of the attacks occurring in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. Nationwide crime rates have fallen consistently over the past few years, gang-related criminality has actually increased over the same period, with cities such as Los Angeles, Baltimore, Detroit, St Louis and Washington DC all suffering gang-related violence on a daily basis.
While most of the focus of federal law enforcement today is on counterterrorism, federal police agencies should not contend with traditional anti-crime operations in handling organized crime gangs. These traditional methods and politics of law and order have created the mess in US.
There are people that once used to be the members of these gangs but now want to help others to come out of that hell. I think diverts programs like this need to be encouraged and this will prevent gang violence more than the police ever will.
