Despite the development and change of the world, in many countries gangs still rule the streets. One of the most terrible and dangerous groups in America is MS-13. Information about her life, rules and rituals gives me goosebumps.
In America, there is an organized crime group that terrifies all residents - Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13. It is believed that it originated in the 80s of the last century, when during the civil war in Ecuador, a huge number of Latin Americans emigrated to the United States. According to various estimates, the gang includes from 50 to 300 thousand people around the world. Moreover, their numbers are regularly increasing.
MS-13 is involved in drug trafficking, robbery and murder. American President Donald Trump said in one of his interviews that he is ready to quickly deal with this gang, since their actions are already going beyond all possible limits. We invite you to learn the main rituals and traditions of Mara Salvatrucha.
1. Stand up for each other
In the most terrible gang in America, the main principle is mutual assistance. Members of this group are ready to come to the aid of their comrade-in-arms at any time of the day or night. If one of the MS-13 set up or abandoned a “friend” in a difficult situation, then death awaits him.
2. Attracting youth
Members of Mara Salvatrucha use different recruitment methods to attract promising young people to join them. For example, during the day they organize parties for truants, where students and schoolchildren who like to skip classes come. During such fun, gang members lure young people.
3. Street tags
Not only in America, but also in other countries you can see graffiti and gang tags on the walls of houses, fences and other buildings. These are a kind of markers indicating who rules in this territory; they make it clear that there is no place for competitors here. There is a separate group of graffiti that are dedicated to recently killed gang members.
4. Admission of newcomers to the gang
To become a full member of MS-13, a person must go through two steps. It is worth noting that even children as young as eight years old are accepted into the group. The first stage involves a beating by several active gang members, and this action lasts 13 seconds. This may seem like very little, but in fact, when you don't defend yourself and multiple people attack, you can get seriously injured. The second stage is the murder of someone from a rival group, for which the candidate is given a weapon and dropped off in hostile territory.
5. To maintain authority
There is constant competition between participants, and in order not to lose your authority, you need to maintain it. Thus, each gang member must regularly participate in various crimes. Newcomers do the dirty work - murders, rapes, thefts, but the old guys solve more serious issues, for example, related to the sale of weapons and drugs.
6. Belief in Satan
Mara Salvatrucha openly worships Satan. Gang members perform various rituals to thank the dark forces for their support. There is evidence that the criminals committed ritual murders several times.
7. Sign language
America's scariest gang has its own sign language, which they call "layout", for example, patting the stomach means to use a gun, and shaking off the shoulder means knives. The main sign of Mara Salvatrucha deserves special attention - a “goat” made of fingers, which looks like the letter “M”. The sign was chosen in the 80s by the band's founders, who were fans of heavy metal.
8. Trials for women
In disadvantaged areas, the guys from the most famous gang are cool, and many girls want to join their company. Representatives of the fair sex can become members of the group, but to do this they must sleep with at least 15 members of MS-13. According to available data, approximately 20% of the gang are girls.
9. Betrayal is unacceptable
The worst thing that can happen in MS-13 is betrayal, which is punishable by death. To prevent frame-ups during inter-group fights, there is a rule - if you accuse someone, then there must be strong evidence for this, since death will also await you for deception. The gang does not spare anyone, for example, in 2003, not far from Washington, a pregnant girl was found murdered, who, being a member of the group, informed the FBI.
10. Gratuitous cruelty
For members of this group to commit a crime, they do not need a reason. The gang has long been a leader in committing murders without cause. This is necessary in order to maintain the status of the “most brutal” organization.
11. Love relationships
If a gang member has a girlfriend, then other men can no longer rape or beat her, only he has the right to do this. In such relationships, the woman has no say and is property. At the same time, the bandits treat their own children with reverence, considering them their followers.
12. Strict discipline
According to existing information, MS-13 has the highest level of discipline among other American gangs, which is attributed to an important part of their success. Members of this organization have no right to appear drunk in public places and cause rows. Losing gang property and missing gang meetings is prohibited.
In addition, there are many more different rules in the internal code. The offender may first be demoted or beaten, and next time he can expect death. There is information that more people in the gang are executed than die during showdowns with competitors. There is evidence that when certain Mara Salvatrucha groups relax too much, a “punisher” is sent from El Salvador, who executes several people for the purpose of education.
13. Information tattoos
Initially, members of this criminal organization completely covered their bodies with tattoos, and from them one could “read” all the information about a person: biography, character traits, place in the hierarchy. Every old gang member certainly has a tattoo on his face. The most popular tattoo is a tear under the eye, which means murder. It is worth noting that recently beginners have begun to refuse tattoos, and there is a completely objective reason for this - it is very easy to identify, remember and find a person by drawings on the body.
14. Huge scale
It is a mistake to believe that a gang has influence only on the streets. According to the FBI, more than a thousand of its members serve in the American armed forces, receiving military education and at the same time recruiting new people. For this group, prisons are a second home or university where they learn concepts. In El Salvador, there are prisons where only MS-13 members are imprisoned, and those in charge even manage the activities of the gang on the outside. It turns out to be some kind of headquarters.
15. So that no one understands
Members of the group have their own slang that is passed down from generation to generation, for example, the word “bless” means to kill, and the expression “direct to the green light” means to order a person. Among other people, the bandits prefer to communicate in the dead language of the Aztecs, which no one understands at all.
16. Carefully thought out hierarchy
Mara Salvatrucha have a branched structure, which makes it very strong and invulnerable to justice. There are many separate groups that work separately from each other. Each group has its own leaders who know by sight and are in contact with the main leaders. By the way, the highest body of MS-13 is called the “council of nine” and it is located in El Salvador.
17. Letters of complaints
Although substitution is not accepted in this organization, any member can complain that a neighboring group is not working well or is committing some actions against the rules. To do this, he must write a letter to the “council of nine.” If the evidence is significant, then the informer receives an order to kill the head of this group and take his place.
18. Lifetime participation
If a person once joined a gang, then this is forever, since it is impossible to retire, much less quit. In MS-13, all roads lead to only three places: prison, hospital and cemetery, so if a person says he wants to quit crime, then a bullet awaits him.
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles among immigrants from El Salvador who flocked en masse to the United States in the early 1980s, fleeing civil war in their home country (by the early 1990s, about 300 thousand lived in Los Angeles alone Salvadorans). Subject to violence from other street gangs (primarily Latinos from the 18th street gangs and African Americans), the Salvadorans responded by creating their own group. With the growing number of immigrants and the expansion of influence, Mara Salvatruchos began to have territorial “branches” - Holywood Locos, Sailors Locos Salvatruchos, Langley Park Salvatruchos, Teclas Locos Salvatruchos, Centrales Locos Salvatruchos, Directa Locos Salvatruchos, Chilangeras Locos Salvatruchos, Brentwood Locos Salvatruchos, Hempstead Locos Salvatruchos, Familia Mara Salvatrucha, Freeport Locos Salvatruchos, Francis Street Locos, Park View Locos Salvatruchos, Coronado Street Locos, Pee Wee Locos, Rampart Street Locos, Western Locos Salvatrucha, Normandie Locos Salvatruchos and Leeward Grandes Salvatruchos (the latter two "cliques" based in Los Angeles, by 2007 were the most authoritative).
Since the early 1990s, American police and immigration authorities began to actively expel Mara Salvatrucha members to their home countries, thus beginning the popularization of the gang in El Salvador. The American gangster subculture (style and colors of clothing, demeanor, gestures and slang, musical culture, including gangsta rap) found fertile ground in war-torn El Salvador, but when faced with local traditions, it became more cruel and bloody. Mara Salvatrucha began to bring entire city districts and prisons under its control; Gradually, former militants who had gone through the civil war began to join it, and the gang spread its influence throughout Central America (and prisons turned into real “universities” for novice bandits). In 1996, the first truce was concluded in El Salvador between the warring MS-13 and M-18, but the authorities' harsh policies towards gangs disrupted the peace and provoked a new wave of violence.
On July 13, 2003, near Washington, Mara Salvatrucha gangsters killed 17-year-old pregnant Brenda Paz after learning that she, as a gang member, had become an FBI informant and participated in the witness protection program (this crime was widely publicized in the press). In 2004, a representative meeting of MS-13 leaders was held on Long Island, at which they tried to bring together the “cliques” of the West and East coasts of the United States. In December 2004, near the city of San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras, Mara Salvatrucha gunmen shot up a passenger bus, killing 28 people, including six children, and seriously injuring 14. This bloody act of intimidation was undertaken by bandits in response to the plans of the country's authorities to introduce the death penalty for serious crimes. Despite the ongoing mass deportation of Mara Salvatrucha members to their homeland, many of them soon return illegally to the United States, where they again join the ranks of the gang (in 2005-2010, American law enforcement officers arrested more than 3 thousand alleged MS-13 members).
In August 2005, Mara Salvatrucha gangsters carried out a coordinated attack on their enemies in seven Salvadoran prisons, killing a total of 35 members of rival gangs (often, uncooperative prison officials, including prison governors, also died at the hands of the bandits). In January 2006, in the Salvadoran city of Zacatecoluca, members of MS-13 shot seven players of one of the teams, who were allegedly members of the M-18 gang, on the football field during a match. In June 2007, two MS-13 kingpins held in a Salvadoran prison were accused of ordering assassinations in the United States. In June 2009, 18 MS-13 members convicted of murder, kidnapping, robbery and racketeering escaped through a 15-meter tunnel from a Honduran prison in San Pedro Sula. In the spring of 2012, in El Salvador, through the mediation of the authorities and the Catholic Church, Mara Salvatrucha concluded a truce with its eternal enemies from the M-18 gang (in response to a decrease in violence on the streets and in prisons, as well as after the gangsters promised to stop the forced recruitment of teenagers, the country's authorities transferred 30 gang leaders from the high-security Zacatecoluca facility to lower-security prisons). In October 2012, Mara Salvatrucha became the first street gang to be designated by US federal authorities as a "transnational criminal organization" (this allowed authorities to freeze any financial assets of the gang and its members, and also made it significantly more difficult for financial institutions to engage in any transactions with MS-13 members and , accordingly, limited the gang’s ability to transfer funds from the United States to Central America).
By late 2012, under pressure from police and other law enforcement agencies, the Mara Salvatrucha's hold on the immigrant neighborhoods of Los Angeles had weakened somewhat, but the gang had increased its influence on the East Coast, especially around Washington, D.C., where there is a large Salvadoran community (by 2012 in the DC metropolitan area There were about one hundred “cliques” with a total number of more than 3 thousand people). In the USA, members of Mara Salvatrucha continue to often use violence against entrepreneurs, ordinary people and illegal immigrants, but there are fewer demonstrative atrocities and reprisals (in some “cliques”, for fear of identification, they even stopped wearing gang colors, and recruitment of newcomers moved to social networks ). In addition, despite the measures taken, MS-13 continues to maintain leadership in the criminal world of Central America.
Today, Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 is one of the most dangerous gangs in several countries. MS-13 has chosen El Salvador, the USA, Honduras and Guatemala as its main areas of activity. Mara Salvatrucha is particularly cruel, and its population exceeds 80 thousand people, 10-15 of whom operate in the United States. Drug and arms trafficking, violence, murder, pimping, robbery, money laundering - perhaps there is no criminal business in which Mara Salvatrucha does not take an active part.
In his speech to Congress, Donald Trump spoke about the Salvadoran criminal gang MS-13, whose members commit terrible crimes in the United States, and called for an end to it. In particular, they are one of the reasons for tightening immigration
History of appearance
The history of the gang's appearance dates back to the early 80s in Los Angeles, when migrants from El Salvador first appeared in American territories, fleeing the civil war in their native country. Before the arrival of the Salvadorans, other Latin American gangs already existed in American territories, which began to oppress the newly arrived immigrants. To counteract the oppression, migrants from El Salvador organized their own group, calling it Mara Salvatrucha, which translated from Latin American street slang means “a brigade of Salvadoran stray ants.”
Ten years into the existence of Mara Salvatrucha, the police and US immigration services began mass deportation of Salvadorans to their homeland, as a result of which the gang began to expand and develop in Salvadoran territories. In the United States, the MS-13 structure is undoubtedly very developed, but the main backbone is located in El Salvador. The Mara Salvatrucha hierarchy is not very multi-level, the main body of the gang is the Council of Nine, located in El Salvador, and MS-13 groups called “cliques” are scattered across several countries around the world. Therefore, it is almost impossible to completely destroy the gang.
Gang structure
There is a massive recruitment of new gang members everywhere, and the age of the newly minted “ants” can start from 8-9 years. Members of Mara Salvatrucha recruit people near schools, children's correctional facilities, and low-income areas.
To become a member of Mara Salvatrucha, you must undergo an initiation rite, the so-called “jump in”. During the initiation rite, members of the group brutally beat the applicant for 13 seconds. After that, anyone who wants to join the ranks of the “ants” must prove their willingness to work for the gang; for this it is enough to commit some crime. Violence, robbery or murder - the nature of the crime does not matter.
Women can also become gang members. To do this, they do not have to undergo the “jump in” ritual, but can simply satisfy 15 gang members. Surprisingly, there are many among the fairer sex who want to join Mara Salvatrucha. This is due to the fact that gang members have considerable weight in disadvantaged areas, the “ants” are shrouded in an aura of gangster luster, and the patronage of the gang can be perceived by many as a kind of protection and illusion of security.
Criminal activity
The activities of Mara Salvatrucha cover almost all milestones of the criminal world. A distinctive feature of the gang is the special cruelty with which crimes are committed. The group's motto - "Mata, Viola, Controla" - is translated from Spanish as "Kill, Rape, Subdue", and the "ants" strictly follow it.
The main source of income is drug trafficking and smuggling from Mexico. Murder and violence can be committed by “ants” simply to prove their power and intimidate others. One of Mara Salvatrucha's favorite weapons is the machete. Gang members are not above using methods such as cutting off the fingers, limbs or genitals of their enemies.
One of the most terrible crimes against Mara Salvatrucha is treason, which is immediately punishable by death. 17-year-old pregnant Brenda Baz was killed by her boyfriend after learning that the girl wanted to put an end to her criminal past, and for this she was ready to cooperate with the FBI.
For the “ants” there is no pity or morality; their crimes are simply monstrous in their cruelty, and incomparable to the activities of any other gang in the world. In 2010, Mara Salvatrucha member Rene Mejia was sentenced to death for the murder of a young woman and her two-year-old baby. And in 2002, there was a sensational case in Boston involving the rape of two disabled teenage girls by members of the Mara Salvatrucha. One victim suffered from cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair, and her friend suffered from deafness. The reason for such atrocity was that earlier the father of one and the girls committed a rash act and had a row with the MS-13 mafioso.
Features of "ants"
Members of Mara Salvatrucha make no secret of their gang affiliation. Some are even openly proud of it and advertise their position. “Ants” can be recognized by specific symbolism in clothing, blue and white checkered shirts and, of course, multiple tattoos, which are a distinctive feature of MS-13. The longer a person is a member of Mara Salvatrucha, the more tattoos they have. These are not just aimless drawings. The bodies of the bandits are covered with the abbreviations “MS”, telephone codes indicating the territorial affiliation of a member of the group, as well as ornaments inherent in the Mayan and Aztec cultures.
Mara Salvatrucha also has her own secret language. Communication among group members takes place in the dead language of the Aztecs, which is not familiar to all ordinary residents. “Ants” also have their own slang, where the word “bless,” for example, means “kill,” and the phrase “direct to the green light” indicates a contract killing.
Authorities and Mara Salvatrucha
Mara Salvatrucha has completely taken over her home country. The gang controls entire areas and cities, the government has virtually no power over MS-13 members, and the “ants” operate in El Salvador brutally and uncontrollably.
In Honduras the situation is radical. President Maduro’s son died at the hands of members of the Mara Salvatrucha, so local authorities are extremely tough on the Salvadoran “ants.” Often, particularly dangerous members of the group are shot on the streets without waiting for a court decision. Even the presence of tattoos and symbols of Mar Salvatrucha in clothing can serve as a reason for arrest.
In the United States, they try to control the activities of gangs in every possible way. In addition to local law enforcement agencies, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Weapons and Explosives are also involved.
Mara Salvatrucha is by far the most dangerous and powerful gang in the United States. The authorities will have to make enormous efforts to minimize the criminal activities of MS-13 members. Eliminating Mar Salvatrucha completely is a task that so far looks like something out of science fiction, even despite the strong convictions of US President Donald Trump, who promised to put an end to the crime syndicate. As Trump tweeted:
“The lax immigration policies of the Barack Obama administration allowed the bad MS-13 gangs to spread to cities across the United States. We will destroy them quickly!”.
Trump is trying to fulfill his promises by tightening immigration policy and mass deportation of Salvadorans. The President also says that the Mara Salvatrucha gang is much worse than al-Qaeda.
Which is considered one of the most brutal street gangs of our time.
This gang has been operating on the streets of several US cities for almost 30 years, starting its activities in Los Angeles, California. We have collected the history of this criminal association.
In the 1980s, as a brutal civil war broke out in Ecuador, 300,000 refugees flocked to the United States, particularly Los Angeles, in search of safety. Like the world's most notorious gangs, the Triad and Cosa Nostra, MS-13 emerged as a defensive response among Ecuadorians to oppression by locals and other immigrants. Ecuadorians were often attacked by gangs of African Americans and Latinos. With one of them, the “18th Street Gang,” MS-13 is still waging a bloody war.
The name MS-13 stands for Mara Salvatrucha and means “Salvadoran wandering ants.” Regarding the meaning of the number 13, there are 2 options: either it is 13th Street in Los Angeles, which became the cradle of the gang, or the position of the letter M in the Latin alphabet, showing their connection with the Mexican drug cartels, because the main ally of MS-13 is the Sinaloa cartel - the oldest and largest drug cartel in the world.
Today in the United States there are more than 10 thousand fighters of this gang, and around the world their number is estimated from 100 to 300 thousand members, turning it into one of the most influential groups on the planet, reports.
Recruitment and training
MS-13 typically recruits children 8–10 years old. By the age of 18, they are already hardened criminals with extensive criminal experience. Recruitment takes place right on sports grounds and in schools, and refusal to join the ranks of the gang can lead to death, writes Look 3.
There are 2 main rituals when joining a gang. The first is called a “jump in”—several gang members brutally beat a recruit for 13 seconds. After the “jump,” the future gangster is taught the basic rules: recruit and kill.
After a year or two, the time comes for the second ritual. The boy is taken to the territory of another gang and given a gun. There he must commit his first murder, shooting another bandit. After this, the guy is hired into the business, and he becomes a full member of the gang.
The group's influence extends beyond the streets. According to the FBI, several thousand gang members serve in the US armed forces, where they receive military education and recruit new soldiers. Prisons are a separate issue. For an MS-13 member, prison is a mandatory part of their “career” where they learn “concepts.” There are 24.5 thousand prisoners in El Salvador, and about half of them are members of MS-13. There are prisons in which 100% of prisoners belong to a gang.
There is no way out of MS-13. Anyone who joins it as a child remains a member of the gang until death.
“In a gang, all roads lead to 3 places: to prison, hospital or cemetery,” say its members.
Structure
MS-13 has a very interesting structure. In fact, the entire army of thousands is divided into separate autonomous units — cliques that control their own territory without going beyond its borders. The cabal has its own arsenal, including M-16s, AKs, grenades and machine guns. Each clique has a leader - a representative, he goes to meetings with other representatives and resolves strategic issues. Representatives of the Los Angeles cliques are the most authoritative, like the founding fathers of the gang. The vertical of power of an organization with one boss has not been discovered; if there is one, then the structure perfectly hides any information about him.
The activities of “stray ants” extend to 6 countries; in the United States, they operate in 33 of the 50 states. The gang seizes territories in order to force businessmen on their territory to pay “tribute.” The “protection tax” is usually 50% of daily revenue. To maintain order and pacify those who refuse to pay, members of the group stage show executions: they chop off the heads, hands, and cut off the genitals of those who try to argue with them.
The gang's annual income is about $30 million, according to El Salvador police estimates.
The brutality of MS-13 was added to by the activities of American law enforcement. As soon as the gang began to grow, the US authorities decided to deal with them using a drastic method - mass deportation to their homeland, El Salvador. Thus, the Americans, without suspecting it, helped the “ants” cross the border and set up business in their homeland. In El Salvador, they began to recruit people with military experience who know how to handle heavy weapons. After this, the level of violence in MS-13 increased significantly, and then cutting off body parts began to be used. Today MS-13 controls all illegal routes across the border of El Salvador, drug trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, and arms trafficking.
Distinguishing marks
Some of the hallmarks of MS-13 are graffiti and tattoos. They mark their streets with gang or clique tags to make it clear to competitors that they shouldn’t tread into that territory. Graffiti is often dedicated to recently killed gang members. MS-13 graffiti can be found from Spain to Alaska.
Tattoos sometimes cover the entire body of a bandit, unlike the Yakuza, who tattoos exactly along the line of their clothing, MS-13 often tattoo them even on the face to show everyone around them who they are. The most common tattoo on the face is a tear under the eye, it means that the person committed murder.
According to one FBI official who investigated the group's activities, MS-13's motto is: "Kill, rape, control."
MS-13 developed their own sign language. For example, patting on the stomach means that pistols will be used, and shaking off the shoulder means knives.
The main sign of the gang is a “goat” made of fingers, reminiscent of the letter “M”. This sign was chosen by the founders of MS-13 in the 80s, who were big fans of heavy metal at that time; modern members of the gang prefer Spanish-language rap.
Terrorism
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the gang "may qualify" for terrorist group status. In El Salvador, MS-13 is already considered a terrorist organization.
In this review we will tell you about the most brutal and numerous gang in the United States.
980s. Ecuador is burning in the flames of civil war. 300 thousand Ecuadorian refugees poured into the United States, Los Angeles. Like the Triad and Cosa Nostra, MS-13 emerged as a defensive response to local oppression. True, yesterday’s immigrants themselves attacked Ecuadorians more than whites - black gangs and Latinos. With one of them, the “18th Street Gang,” MS-13 is still waging a bloody war today.
The name MS-13 itself stands for “Mara Salvatrucha” and means “Salvadoran Stray Ants”. There is still debate about the number 13, whether it is 13th Street in Los Angeles, which became the cradle of the gang, or the position of the letter M in the Latin alphabet, showing their connection with the Mexican drug cartels, or M - “Mara”, although the first the version seems to me much more logical.
Interesting fact: the main ally of MS-13 is the Sinaloa cartel - the oldest and largest drug cartel in the world.
Today in the United States there are more than 50 thousand MS-13 fighters, and around the world the number jumps from 100 to 300 thousand, turning it into one of the most influential groups on the planet.
Fun fact: MS-13 typically recruits children between 8 and 10 years old. By the age of 18, they are already hardened criminals with extensive criminal experience. Recruitment takes place directly on sports grounds and in schools. Refusal can lead to death.
There are 2 main rituals when joining a gang. The first is called “jump in” - several members of the group brutally beat the recruit for 13 seconds. After the “jump,” the future gangster is taught the basic rules: recruit and kill. All for the gang's profit. After a year or two, the time comes for the second ritual. The boy is taken to the territory of another gang and given a gun in his hands, he must commit his first murder, kill another bandit. After this, the boy is taken into business and he becomes a full member of the gang.
MS-13 has a very interesting structure. In fact, the entire army of thousands is divided into separate autonomous units — cliques — which control their own territory without going beyond its borders. The cabal has its own arsenal, including M-16s, AKs, grenades and machine guns. Each clique has a leader - a representative, he goes to meetings with other representatives and resolves strategic issues. Representatives of the Los Angeles cliques are the most authoritative, like the founding fathers. But as such, a vertical of power with one boss has not yet been discovered; if there is one, then such a structure perfectly hides any information about him. More details below.
The power of “stray ants” extends to 6 countries; in the USA they control 33 of the 50 states. The gang seizes territory for a reason - all the businesses on their street pay tribute, from the hot dog seller on the Avenue of Stars in Hollywood to the drug dealer in the ghetto. The “protection tax” is usually 50% of daily revenue, and if a hot dog seller gives them 100-200 dollars a day, then a huckster pays a couple of thousand dollars for the right to trade in their territory. To maintain order and pacify those who refuse to pay, these Latinos often carry out show executions - cutting off heads, hands, and cutting off genitals.
Initially, the group was not so cruel and powerful. Ironically, the US authorities helped them become this way. As soon as the organized crime group began to grow, the authorities decided to fight them with a drastic method - mass deportation to their homeland, El Salvador. Thus, the Americans, without suspecting it, helped the “ants” cross the border and set up business in their homeland. The fact is that in El Salvador they began to recruit people with military experience who know how to handle heavy weapons. After this, the level of violence in MS-13 increased significantly. Then the cutting off of body parts began. It gets to the point where gang members often plant severed heads in front of the police station to intimidate them. Today MS-13 controls all illegal routes across the border of El Salvador, drug trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, and arms trafficking.
Some of the hallmarks of MS-13 are graffiti and tattoos. They mark their streets, tag gangs or cliques to let their competitors know that if you come here you will get shot. Graffiti is also often dedicated to recently killed gang members. MS-13 graffiti can be found from Spain to Alaska.
Tattoos sometimes cover the entire body of a bandit, unlike the Yakuza, who tattoos exactly along the line of their clothes, MS-13 are often beaten even on the face to show everyone around them who they are. The most common tattoo on the face is a tear under the eye, which means murder.
MS-13 developed their own sign language, which they called “Layout”. For example, patting on the stomach means that pistols will be used, and shaking off the shoulder means knives.
Interesting fact: the main sign of the gang is a “goat” made of fingers, reminiscent of the letter “M”. They chose this sign for themselves in the 80s. x founders of MS-13, who were big fans of heavy metal at the time. Today, gang members are honored by the Spanish-speaking rapper who plays on your speakers. You pressed Play, right?
The group's influence extends beyond the streets. According to the FBI, several thousand gang members serve in the US armed forces, where they receive military education and recruit new soldiers. Prisons are a separate issue. For an MS-13 member, prison — university where they learn concepts is a completely normal stage in the life of every gangster. There are 24.5 thousand prisoners in El Salvador, and about half of them are members of MS-13. There are prisons in which 100% of prisoners belong to a gang. From there, the watchers direct the gang's activities.
In 2003, a girl named Brenda Paz, a former gang member, began to inform the FBI, telling a lot about the MS-13 device. She also shared that, supposedly, there is one boss over all the cliques under the dissonant nickname “Rooster” to the Russian ear. Brenda was brutally murdered by her former friends when they invited her to go fishing. The girl was pregnant, she was 17 years old.
There is no way out of MS-13. Anyone who joins it as a child remains a member of the gang until death.
