Tatoos have traditionally been a symbol of gang membership
Posted on 07/24/2005 5:20:02 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Washington, D.C.
Street gangs have existed in the United States since the 1800s. But in the last few years, street gangs have grown more violent, more numerous and more widespread, from the big cities to rural areas. Many gang members are illegal immigrants, mostly from Latin America.
An adolescent may hunger for a sense of power. Especially if that youngster has few things in life: no money, little education, a broken family and no cultural attachments to his community. Analysts say teenagers may find power and fear through a street gang, and that is why gangs are growing so rapidly in the United States.
Robert Clifford is the Director of the MS-13 National Gang Task Force at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI. "They want to belong to an organization where they are respected, feared, where they have an opportunity for advancement, self enrichment."
He says gangs are involved in a wide range of criminal activities that include robbery, drug dealing, extortion and even murder; often their communities, and sometimes, fellow gang members, are the victims of their crimes.
Gangs offer a sense of family or community. For a long time, tattooing was required, to indicate membership and increase the sense of belonging. The distinctive tattoos made it easy to get in to a gang but very difficult to get out. Lately gangs have evolved and some members do not have tattoos or have them removed. The fact that the markings make gang members easily identifiable by law enforcement has made them change.
Mr. Clifford emphasizes the point. "Some of the more sophisticated members of these gangs you will not find tattoos, you will not find a lot of street activity, because they know how to laundry money, they know how to organized and they know how to instill discipline, they know how to remain outside the reach or outside the attention of law enforcement."
The largest gangs in the U.S., such as Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, 18 Street, and Latin Kings, all started in California in the 70s and 80s as a result of Central American migration to the region. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that there are nearly 800,000 gang members in the U.S., mostly between 14 and 27-years-old.
According to a study done by the National Youth Gang Center nearly half of the gang members are Hispanics. They come from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. Thirty percent are African American and the rest are white and Asians. Many of the immigrants are illegally in the U.S. and have been deported several times.
Mr. Clifford says deportation normally is a strong tool in the law enforcement arsenal but in the case of gangs, it actually can backfire. Deportees in Mexico and Central America have organized and strengthened gang groups in their home countries. Jail doesn't do much good either.
"Some of these individuals serve prison in the U.S. or their home countries, only to come out more hardened, more experienced, a more committed gang member, and are able to organized other gangs as they come out," says Mr. Clifford.
Manuel Orozco, an active member of the Washington think tank The Inter American Dialogue, says many gang members in the U.S. have become stateless pariahs.
"The problem is that many of those deportees were individuals who came to the U.S. when they were two years old, so their home country is not really the country they were born in but is actually the U.S."
Mr. Orozco also says many Central American gang members bring from their countries of origin a culture of violence, which is reinforced by their experiences in the U.S. While it has not happened yet, the FBI's Robert Clifford says the gangs could easily be infiltrated by terrorists.
"Any time you have an infrastructure that moves people, moves money, moves documents, moves weapons, the potential always exist for a terrorist group to harness or to infiltrate such an organization."
The hardening and incredible expansion of the gangs in the U.S. and Central America led to a recent hearing by the U.S. Congress. A national gang task force has been created and cooperation with the international community has been increased. But among all parties involved there is a growing sense that if gangs continue their present trend, they could pose a serious threat to regional stability.
Latino Gangs Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Ah jeeeze....
They're just here doing the jobs our own crooks and thieves won't do.....
Semper Fi
ping
If you deport them to Mexico, they'll just come back. Better deport them to Russia.
America's Most Dangerous Gang
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1420911/posts
Deportation to the Aleutian Islands works for me.
>>>>>While it has not happened yet, the FBI's Robert Clifford says the gangs could easily be infiltrated by terrorists.
Why did he say that? The link I just added says it has happened. The drugs coming over the border are using gangs for distribution?
Hire the Mafia to get rid of them.
Latino Street Gangs a Violent Symptom of Greater Illegal Immigration Problem
We have the Mexican Mafia down here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1439384/posts
The article, A long past to live down, debates whether he is a veteran criminal who demands taxes from illegal narcotics sales by gang members or a reformed felon passionate about stopping street violence.
Peter Jess Ojeda, 63, has been arrested about 30 times on charges ranging from being under the influence of alcohol to attempted murder.
He has at least nine felony convictions and has served at least four terms in prison, and returned to prison several times on parole violations.
He now faces a potential 20-year sentence in federal prison after his arrest last month. He was charged with being the leader of a drug-trafficking organization.
Ojeda was law-enforcement's star catch in June, when hundreds of local police and FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents conducted simultaneous raids on more than 40 homes.
The gang members are in custody without bail under a federal grand-jury indictment accusing them of violating racketeering laws.
Somehow the old Sicilian Mafia seemed more gentlemanly, but maybe that's just Mario Puzo's take. They reportedly kept their brutality within their own circles.
Gangs today will kill civilians for using a bandanna or they dare to clean the spray-paint grafitti off of their property. Much more dangerous than before.
This is the important one. These gangs are racial organizations, as racist as any Klan Klavern, and they commit a large number of racial crimes each year, often against other minority gangs and individuals. MS-13 was allegedly formed as a reaction by Salvadorans to getting pounded by Mexicans. Remember all this next time the system goes into hysterics over "racism."
Mr. Clifford says deportation normally is a strong tool in the law enforcement arsenal but in the case of gangs, it actually can backfire. Deportees in Mexico and Central America have organized and strengthened gang groups in their home countries.
So f***ing what? Is this scumbag saying it's better for the American people to bear this burden? That is exactly how the ruling elite think and it cannot be called anything but treason and hatred.
Importing street gangs from the hell holes of Central America. How smart is that? The elites could give a sh!t since they can live in gated communities.
Hondurans are still here that were allowed to stay here after Hurricane Mitch (1998) wrecked some of Central America. They were given "temporary protected status" and they are still effin' here years after this hurricane. Our immigration policies are a fraud. No one cares
Back in 1998 I knew these Hondurans would never return. Now they are angling for permanent residency, permanent green cards and citizenship
Why is it even possible that a man with 9 felony convictions is walking the streets?
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