This has been going on for a while – you may recall reports from ten years ago – but here’s the latest:
MS-13 gang is recruiting newly arrived migrant kids in New York, police say
Besides MS-13, police in Long Island say that they also have to contend with a number of other street gangs, including the Latin Kings, Netas and Sureños, that are all actively recruiting new members in suburban areas like Riverhead, Central Islip, Huntington Station and other neighborhoods with established Central American communities.
MS-13, however, seems to be the most worrisome to both law enforcement and Central American immigrants who dealt with the gang’s brutal tactics in their home nations.
The gang was founded more than two decades ago in southern California by immigrants fleeing El Salvador’s civil war. Its founders took lessons learned from the bloody conflict to the streets of Los Angeles, all the while building a reputation as one of the most ruthless and sophisticated street gangs in the country.
. . .
The gang now has a large presence in New York, Southern California, Washington D.C. and many rural areas on the East coast with substantial Salvadoran populations.
Over 10,000 members in 46 states.
Over in El Salvador,
Authorities in El Salvador dismantled a MS13 network allegedly dedicated to forcing women into marriages before assassinating the husband to collect insurance money, a scheme that speaks to the gang’s growing business sophistication.
Much more on MS-13 at InSight Crime.