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A southwestern Illinois man claims he shot in self defense when a 17-year-old gang-banger attempted to break into the home where he was staying Tuesday night. Law officers, however, tell another story. They say the 38-year-old shooter fired at the teen from a distance of 75 to 100 feet away. And -- they say -- the teen wasn't trying to break into the house. He was shot while spray painting graffiti on the garage in the backyard. The incident occurred unincorporated Collinsville just down the street from the Fairmount Park race track. The teen was found a few blocks away...

Note: The following text is a quote: December 11, 2009 286 arrested in ICE's largest ever enforcement surge targeting criminal aliens 2 convicted rapists and armed robber among those captured in 3-day California operation LOS ANGELES - Nearly 300 foreign nationals with criminal records have been removed from the United States or are facing deportation following a three-day enforcement surge in California, making it the biggest operation targeting at large criminal aliens ever carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). During the operation, which concluded late Thursday, ICE officers located and arrested a total of 280 criminal aliens...

As the United States turns its attention to security threats abroad, the disturbing trend of extremism in America’s Somali communities is a reminder that there are also real and present dangers at home. A growing body of evidence suggests that Somali communities in the Unites States have become fertile ground for terrorist groups to recruit and implant operatives. On November 23, the federal government announced eight more indictments of Somali-Americans in Minnesota on charges of recruiting members of their community to join the al-Shabaab terrorist organization in Somalia. This brings to 14 the number of Somalis from Minnesota who have...

SNIPPET: "ONTARIO, Calif. -- State lawmakers are holding a hearing today in Ontario to discuss the rise in the number of criminal gangs using networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Officials say the hearing entitled "Gangs 2.0: The Emerging Threat of Cyberthugs" will explore the use of social networking tools in gang recruitment and gang-related crime. Assembly majority leader Alberto Torrico, and attorney general candidate, says gang members both in and out of prison are making more use of technology."

LIMA, Peru - Police say a gang in the Peruvian jungle has been killing people and draining fat from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in cosmetics, although medical experts say they doubt a major market for fat exists. Three suspects confessed to killing five people, but the gang may have been involved in dozens more, said Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police. He said one suspect claimed the gang wasn't the only one doing such killings.

El Salvadoran leaders of the MS-13 gang allegedly put out a contract on the federal agent responsible for a crackdown on its New York factions, the Daily News has learned. The brazen plot to assassinate the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was revealed in an arrest warrant for reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres. Torres tipped authorities to the plan after he and four other MS-13 members were stopped by NYPD detectives for hassling passersby on Northern Blvd. in Queens last month. He told cops he had information to pass on, and was debriefed Oct. 22 at Rikers Island,...

Note: The following text is a quote: Superseding Indictment Returned Charging Members of the Krazy Locos Criminal Street Gang with Two Homicides, Robbery, Firearms, and Narcotics Charges Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael F. McAuliffe, Palm Beach County State Attorney, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, Hugo Barrera, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Investigations, and Ric L. Bradshaw, Sheriff, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office,...

Note: The following text is a quote: MS-13 Gunman Sentenced 80 Years for Attempted Murder ALEXANDRIA, VA—Dennis L. Gil Bernardez, 33, of Landover, Md., the gunman in an MS-13 shooting, was sentenced to 80 years in prison today for attempting to murder rival gang members on Oct. 6, 2008, at a park near homes in Reston, Va. His accomplice, Jose M. Aguilar Orantes, 18, of Reston, Va., who provided the firearm, was sentenced to 55 years in prison for his role in the attempted murders. A third member, Carlos B. Guzman Cruz, 25, of Richmond, Va., was sentenced to 144...

RICHMOND, California — Four teens were charged Wednesday in the gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance in Northern California, in an attack that has generated widespread outrage. All four — ages 15, 16, 17 and 19 — were charged with rape and enhancements that they acted in concert, which could make them eligible for life in prison.

Crackdowns on illegal immigrants and other law enforcement efforts are driving gangs out of Northern Virginia and into Maryland and the District, a report released Monday concluded. "Many gang members from Northern Virginia are moving or driving to Prince George's and other Maryland counties, into the District of Columbia or further south and west into Virginia to avoid dealing with police departments that are unrelenting in their efforts to keep gangs under control," authorities wrote in the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force report. The report said the task force's success is the result of Virginia law enforcement's use of...

They decapitate, torture, and extort. Then they pray, and donate to charity.The "Familia" cartel is perhaps the most extreme example of the paradoxical enemy which Mexico faces as it tries to defeat organised crime. It is a fight which would be much easier if the cartels were simply maverick gangs on the fringe of society. But they are, in many areas, part of society. "La Familia was originally a social structure. And in many ways it still is," says a former Mexico deputy attorney general and organised crime expert, Prof Samuel Gonzalez Ruiz.

October 22, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://milwaukee.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/mw102209.htm Forty-One Defendants Federally Indicted in Racine Gang Case United States Attorney Michelle L. Jacobs announced today that two indictments were unsealed in federal court charging 41 defendants with various drug-trafficking offenses. The defendants, many of whom are alleged to be members of the Vice Lords and North Side Gangster Disciples street gangs, are charged with, among other things, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A) and 846. The defendants are identified as: Starsius T. Barnes, a.k.a. “Star” (32), Brian T....

EL PASO, Texas — An alleged Mexican gang leader named to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list may have surgically altered his face and changed his finger prints to hide his identity, federal investigators said Wednesday. Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo was added earlier this week to the wanted list that includes the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger. "From what I've heard, it's my understanding he may have had ... plastic surgery and manipulated his finger prints," said Samantha Mikeska, the FBI's lead investigator in a 5-year-old probe of Ravelo's Barrio Azteca gang. If Ravelo...

A white pupil was battered with a hammer at a school where politically correct teachers were afraid to deal with racial tensions, the High Court heard yesterday...

A late-night disagreement between two men in a bar becomes a stare-down. One side throws fists, and a brief brawl breaks out. Customers scatter. Tables are overturned. Friends on the sidelines straighten their postures and walk tough. Others grab their coats and head for the door. Some physical commotion is not uncommon at evening establishments where alcohol is served. But it's what happened next on Thursday evening inside the Route 66 Kitchen in West Toledo that has unsettled some Toledoans. With surveillance cameras rolling, several figures pulled out handguns and engaged in a shootout that raged inside and outside the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 2, 2009 Three Gang Members Plead Guilty to Murder and Drug Conspiracy Charges; Two Others Sentenced on Drug Charges Three members of the violent gang known as the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) pleaded guilty today to charges related to their participation in a drive-by shooting and a drug conspiracy, and two other members were sentenced for their roles in a drug conspiracy. Robert Allen Ramirez, aka "Nesyo," 27, of Big Spring, Texas; Eduardo Daniel Mares, aka "Pitt," 21,...

CHICAGO -- Prosecutors have charged four teenagers with first-degree murder in the beating death of a student who was walking home from school. Family members believe the victim, 16-year-old Derrion Albert, was fatally beaten Thursday for refusing to join a gang. Charged with first-degree murder are Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and Eugene Bailey, 18, according to the Cook County state attorney's office. Shannon, Riley and Carson were ordered held without bond Monday. Bailey was due in bond court Tuesday. Chicago police said they were looking for at least three more suspects, but would not discuss...

New York, NY (AHN) - Four young men accused of gang-raping a Hofstra University freshman in a dorm toilet have been released from jail after their alleged victim recanted her charges against them. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice told reporters at a news conference Thursday that the 16-year-old student withdrew her story after a lengthy interview with prosecutors late Wednesday. A lawyer of one of the accused also said the accuser's description of the alleged gang rape does not match with the scene shown on a short cell phone video of the incident taken by a fifth man she...

Note: The following text is a quote: September 11, 2009 ICE works with local law enforcement to arrest 23 gang members BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Twenty men, two women and one juvenile with ties to the violent gangs Sureno-13, La Quemada, MS 13, Brown Pride 13, Southside Locotes, Lejion Negra (Mexico) and Judas 13 (Mexico) are facing deportation following a four-day enforcement operation involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and several local law enforcement agencies. The arrests were made as part of an ongoing initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit dubbed Operation Community Shield. As part of the initiative, ICE...

CNN) -- A U.S. soldier arrested in connection with the killing of a Mexican drug cartel member in El Paso, Texas, allegedly worked as a hit man, court records show. Michael Jackson Apodaca, 18, a soldier based at Fort Bliss, was one of three men arrested Monday in connection with the shooting death of the mid-level drug cartel member, who also worked as a drug informant for the United States, according to a complaint affidavit and local reports. Police identified the other suspects as Ruben Rodriguez Dorado, 30, and Christopher Andrew Duran, 17. The three men each face one count...

More than Mexicans Crossing the Border byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D.thelastcrusade.org [caption id="attachment_887" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="MS-13 Member with Arabic tatoos (Police Photograph)"][/caption] Al Qaeda and the Latino Gang-Bangers The situation at the border now poses a grave threat to national security. Agent Mike Scioli of the U.S. Border Patrol confirms that the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol is facing a worsening problem with Mara Salvatrucha, a Salvadoran street gang that now controls the flow of arms, drugs, and illegal aliens into the U.S. Two members of the violent gang were collared last week in Tucson and Nogales. Twenty have...

For those interested in exploring one of the greatest internal and transnational threats to the United States, there is a new book out today by Samuel Logan, This is For the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America's Most Violent Gang. The book traces the history of Brenda Paz, a young Honduran who joins MS-13 and eventually becomes the most effective police witness against the organization, before she was killed. But besides the individual story, the book shows just how powerful and ruthless the MS-13 has become. Given that it now has chapters in thousands of cities across the United States,...

A gang of wealthy pensioners kidnapped and tortured a financial adviser in Germany after he lost £2m of their savings during the financial crisis. Dubbed ‘The Geritol Gang’ by police – after the arthritis drug – the kidnappers seized James Arnburn and subjected him to a four-day ordeal He was burned with cigarettes, beaten with a chair leg and chained up 'like an animal'. Mr Arnburn, 56, described how two of his kidnappers, identified only as Roland K, 74, and Willy D, 60, hit him with a Zimmer frame outside his home in Speyer, west Germany before binding him with...

Note: The following text is a quote: Wife of Gang Leader Pleads Guilty to Narcotics Charges On the day her trial was to begin in U.S. District Court in Lubbock, Texas, Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) member Marie Chavez, aka "Shorty," the wife of an alleged ALKQN leader Jose Nava, aka "Chino," pleaded guilty to a superseding indictment charging her and 16 co-defendants with various offenses related to alleged narcotics and weapons trafficking and violent activities. Specifically, Chavez, 28, of Lubbock, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute five kilograms...

Note: The following text is a quote: Highlighting Recent FBI Gang Investigations The U.S. is seeing a rise in gang membership across the country and as membership spreads from urban to suburban areas, so does the associated criminal activity. Gangs are involved not only in auto theft, assault, home invasions, armed robbery, and extortion, but also in fraud, identity theft, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, alien smuggling, and murder. “As our communities are exposed to higher levels of crime and violence, the FBI, along with local, state, and federal partners, are responding with an even greater measure of significant law enforcement...

Facefwd.com <> The charges stemmed from an incident at a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day when three members of the party were accused of trying to threaten voters and block poll and campaign workers by the threat of force - one even brandishing what prosecutors call a deadly weapon. The three black panthers, Minister King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complaint in the last days of the Bush administration with violating the voter rights act by using coercion, threats and intimidation. Shabazz allegedly held a nightstick or baton that prosecutors said...

SAN FRANCISCO—Emile Fort was sentenced yesterday to 496 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine to the Victim’s of Crime Fund, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced. Yesterday’s sentence was the result of a plea agreement that was entered into by Fort and the United States on March 3, when Fort pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to conduct the affairs of a racketeering influenced corrupt organization in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(d). Fort, 28, admitted to being an associate of the Down Below Gang -...

The law finally caught up with an alleged gang member who police say held down his 7-year-old son while a fellow gang-banger tattooed the boy's belly with the group's insignia. Police say 26-year-old Enrique Gonzales held down his 7-year-old son while another gang member tattoed the group's insignia on his belly. Fresno cops arrested Enrique Gonzalez, 26, at hotel in the Sierra foothills and booked him for investigation of mayhem, child abuse, false imprisonment, battery, participating in a criminal street gang and committing a crime for the benefit of a gang, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. Gonzales, a member of...

Note: The following text is a quote: ICE arrests 17 in operation targeting transnational gang members WICHITA, Kan. - Local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, in close partnership with the Wichita Police Department, made nine arrests Wednesday during an operation targeting violent transnational street gangs and their illegal alien gang members and associates. Eight other arrests were also made during the operation's planning phase. This is the latest joint local action of an ongoing national ICE effort to target foreign-born gang members. These arrests were made under an ongoing national initiative of ICE's National Gang Unit called "Operation...

Note: The following text is a quote: 11 arrested during ICE-led joint operation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., targeting gangs Arrests include members and associates of 18th Street, Latin Kings, and Sur13 street gangs MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Nine foreign-born gang members and associates and two U.S. citizens with ties to local violent street gangs were arrested here Wednesday following U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-led investigation. The operation, dubbed Community Shield, was a multi-agency effort spearheaded by ICE. Among the participating agencies were the Myrtle Beach Police Department's Gang Unit, 15th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit, Myrtle Beach Police Department's Street...

There are no gang “wannabes” in Garfield County, only gang “gonnabes,” said two sheriff’s deputies assigned to a recently formed anti-gang task force. Deputies J. Miller and J. McCune, who don’t use their real first names due to the potentially dangerous nature of their work, are members of the Threat Assessment Group, or TAG, in the sheriff’s department. The group was formed after jail staff noticed an increase in gang members from California and elsewhere among the inmate population. “Then we found some of them were hanging out by some of the schools, just off school property, trying to recruit...

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Police are checking surveillance video as they try to identify people who beat a man at the Federal Way Transit Center. The 32-year-old Kent man was waiting for a bus Tuesday night when he asked another man to quiet down. The Kent man was knocked down and beaten. He was treated for a broken jaw and other facial bones at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

A group of young men severely beat a Kent man late Tuesday at the Federal Way Transit Center after he told one of them to lower his voice, police said Wednesday. The Kent man, 32, was waiting for a bus about 11 p.m. when he asked a loud youth to quiet down, police said. In response, several males in their teens or early 20s walked up to the man and one hit him in the face. The two began to fight and others in the group joined in. After the Kent man was knocked to the ground, the attackers ran...

Note: The following text is a quote: DEA Task Force Targets Lancaster Street Gang APR 09 -- (LOS ANGELES) – On April 8, 2009, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Landrum, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announced the culmination of a 12-month investigation targeting the drug trafficking activities of the Lancas 13 street gang. The Lancas 13 street gang is responsible for distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana throughout the Lancaster and Palmdale areas, and as far away as Ohio. This joint investigation has resulted in 97 arrests,...

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 10, 2009 GANG MEMBER PLEADS GUILTY TO BEING A FELON IN POSSESSION OF A FIREARM Defendant Appears in Internet Video Holding Gun and Making Threats Against Rival Gang Members ERIC CHARLES SANFORD, 21, of Seattle, Washington, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to being a felon in possession of a firearm. SANFORD was arrested on November 15, 2008, following a traffic stop in central Seattle. SANFORD was a passenger in a car that was stopped for traffic violations. SANFORD was ordered out of the car for...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Erick Turcios-Lazo, also known as “Scorpion,” age 22, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Turcios-Lazo was found guilty on Jan. 22, 2009. Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Turcios-Lazo was indicted on Sept. 18, 2008, by a federal grand jury on conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering charges. The jury trial began...

Note: The following text is a quote: https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=99242 YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Guatemala City Violent Incidents CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Americas - Guatemala 24 Mar 2009 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 9 Mar 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: GUATEMALA PASSENGER BUS CRIMES 20 Jan 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: GUATEMALA SAFETY REMINDER; RECENT SPATE OF INCIDENTS 8 Dec 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: GUATEMALA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS MARCH, DECEMBER 9 25 Nov 2008 WARDEN MESSAGE: GUATEMALA INCREASED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY U.S. Embassy Guatemala City issued the following Warden Message on March 24: The U.S. Embassy has received...

A recent surge in arrests and cocaine seizures in Peru points to an increased presence of Mexican drug cartels, counter-narcotics officials say. The cartels have also contributed to more drug-related violence in Peruvian cities, ports and in remote valleys in this Andean country where coca, cocaine's base material, is grown, the officials say. Peruvian claims of Mexican cartels expanding echo those by officials in other Latin American countries, from Honduras to Argentina, where Mexican gangs have supplanted once-powerful Colombian cartels as kings of the illicit-drug underworld. .... That Mexican drug lords are sending emissaries here is no surprise to Hidalgo...

Three juvenile Triceratops, a species thought to be solitary, died together in a flood and now have been found in a 66 million-year-old bone bed in Montana, lending more evidence to the idea that teen dinosaurs were gregarious gangsters. Triceratops were ceratopsids, herbivorous dinosaurs that lived until the the very end of the Cretaceous Period. They have been found in enormous bone beds of multiple individuals, but all known Triceratops fossils up to now have been solitary individuals. In fact, Triceratops is one of the best-known of all dinosaurs, with more than 50 total specimens discovered, so it looked pretty...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-crm-260.html MS-13 Member Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Involvement in Rico Conspiracy WASHINGTON – A member of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was sentenced today to 25 years in prison and five years of supervised release for his participation in a racketeering enterprise, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Edward M. Yarbrough of the Middle District of Tennessee announced. Manuel Marquez, a/k/a "Morro," was sentenced in Nashville, Tenn., by Chief Judge Todd J. Campbell of the Middle District of Tennessee. At his plea...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/February/09-crm-176.html 17 Members and Associates of Violent Gang Indicted Five Members Alleged to Have Committed Gang-Related Murders in Big Spring, Texas WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Lubbock, Texas, has charged 17 members and associates of the violent gang known as the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) with various charges related to their alleged narcotics and weapons trafficking violations, a well as a variety of alleged violent crimes throughout Texas, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090219charlotte.htm February 19, 2009 10 gang members arrested following ICE-led operation in Charlotte Arrests include members of MS-13, Surenos, Brown Pride, SUR-13 and Latin Kings CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Ten foreign-born gang members with ties to local violent street gangs were arrested here yesterday following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led operation. The operation, dubbed Community Shield, was a multi-agency effort spearheaded by ICE. Among the participating agencies were the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD); the United States Marshals Service and the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety's Alcohol Law unit (NC-ALE)....

Fullerton police have arrested three boys suspected of attacking a minister and his family as they were driving to his church. The suspects were arrested shortly after the Friday night attack on Willie Holmes, president and founder of International Nondenominational Assemblies, but their arrests weren't revealed until Sunday. Each of the boys was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism, assault with a deadly weapon and being a gang member. Their names were withheld because of the their ages. Holmes had said a group of youths stepped in front of his car Friday night and began throwing rocks, bricks and bottles....

More than a dozen gang members connected to the Mexican Mafia prison gang were arrested early Friday and accused of attempted murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking in San Diego County, authorities said. Officials have charged 40 people – 17 of whom were arrested early Friday – in connection with the nearly year long investigation, dubbed “Operation Keys to the City”, that targeted the notorious prison gang, officials said at an afternoon news conference downtown. Two criminal complaints charge 36 defendants with federal racketeering, firearm offenses and drug trafficking violations. U.S. Attorney General Karen Hewitt described the Mexican Mafia and its...

A drug gang kidnapped and killed six people near a town in the US-Mexican border region, prompting a series of gunbattles with soldiers that left 15 others dead. The violence on Tuesday started when gunmen kidnapped nine alleged members of a rival drug gang in Villa Ahumada and later executed six of them along the PanAmerican highway outside of the town, 130km south of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for a joint military-police operation in Chihuahua State. Assailants later released three of the men, although their whereabouts was not immediately known, Torres...

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican drug gangs near the U.S. border are breaking into police radio frequencies to issue chilling death threats to cops which they then carry out, demoralizing security forces in a worsening drug war. "You're next, bastard ... We're going to get you," an unidentified drug gang member said over the police radio in the city of Tijuana after naming a policeman. The man also threatened a second cop by name and played foot-stomping "narcocorrido" music, popular with drug cartels, over the airwaves. "No one can help them," an officer named Jorge said of his threatened colleagues...

SAN DIEGO – A member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha street gang was caught among a group of illegal immigrants Monday by Border Patrol agents in rugged country near Jamul. Javier Cortez Majano, 23, was among a group of five people stopped about 6 a.m. about two miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, said Border Patrol spokesman Mark Endicott. A records check showed that Cortez, a Honduran national, was a member of the gang, also known as MS-13, and had a criminal history in Arkansas, Endicott said. Founded in Southern California by Salvadoran immigrants in the 1980s, Mara Salvatrucha has...

NATIONAL GANG THREAT SUMMARY Gangs pose a serious threat to public safety in many communities throughout the United States. Gang members are increasingly migrating from urban to suburban areas and are responsible for a growing per- centage of crime and violence in many communities. Much gang-related criminal activity involves drug trafficking; however, gang members are increasingly engaging in alien and weapons trafficking. Additionally, a rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships with U.S.- and foreign-based drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other criminal organizations to gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs.

The U.S. Department of Justice called the Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO) the “greatest organized crime threat to the United States” in their 2009 National Drug Assessment report. Last year the Mexican drug cartels killed close to 5,700 people. A war has been raging along the Mexico-U.S. border as DTOs continue to fight for territory. The conflict between rival gangs leads to near daily discovery of bodies by Mexican authorities and open firefights between the gangs and the Mexican police and military are bringing chaos to border towns. The conflict has also crept its way the U.S. through the involvement...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/ba011209.htm MS-13 MEMBER SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS FOR RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY Participated in the Murders of Rival Gang Members Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Eris Marchante-Rivas, also known as Strayboy, age 24, of Hyattsville, Maryland, today to 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to conduct and participate in racketeering enterprise activities of MS-13, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Department of Justice Criminal Division. “We are working...