Posted on 08/20/2018 2:49:13 AM PDT by reaganaut1
...
For years, MS-13’s impact on the U.S. was local—confined to specific neighborhoods and cities scattered across the country as the gang used violence to secure and hold turf.
Then, federal officials tracked an alarming development. As MS-13’s influence grew, so did its ambition to leverage its network of local franchises into a cohesive, national brand. That would vault MS-13 into territory once occupied by the Mafia, and now held by Mexican drug cartels.
A series of trials that wrapped up this summer in Boston shows how MS-13 is pushing to make that leap by streamlining its management structure and creating uniform standards, much like a multinational company. The question, one that will determine whether MS-13 can make the jump to national significance, is whether that transformation can impose order on its unruly, violent young members.
The group, partly because of its success in the U.S., has become a political football, with President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions using gruesome acts by MS-13 members to push the administration’s tight immigration policy. The attorney general has called MS-13 “one of the most dangerous groups in America,” while Mr. Trump has declared its members to be “thugs” and “animals.” Democrats and lawmakers in favor of looser restrictions say their rhetoric is overblown.
Federal and state law-enforcement officials say MS-13 gang membership has grown by several thousand members over the past decade or so. It stretches to at least 40 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Justice Department.
“They have definitely showed their organizational capacity in terms of ordering violence and in terms of recruiting and replenishing the ranks,” said Derek N. Benner, a top official at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Top down reorganization will make them easier to destroy. The franchise model is much more difficult to take out.
Ever heard the term “Organized Crime”?
Once they reorganize will they be called MS-13.1, MS-14, or MS-2000?
Nancy Pelosi must be proud of her group.
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Local franchises?? Do they get to wear T-shirts with logos like.. ‘Over 100 heads cut off this year’ ‘Whatchu lookin’ at, dogFace?’ ‘Bite me.. Before I bite you’
Remind me again who was running things the last few years before Trump came to town? Hmmmmm...
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