MS-13 has arrived...

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - MS-13 has arrived...

Posted: 12/31/2005 3:01:35 PM EDT

December 30, 2005 NATIONAL POST PAGE: A9 (TORONTO)
'Most dangerous gang' in U.S. takes root here
MS-13 notorious for beheading its victims
KEYWORDS: "INFORMATION" AND "POLICE", "TERROR*", "VICTIM*", "FLOOD" OR "FLOODS", "SMUGGLING*"
Adrian Humphreys, National Post
Their names sound as benign as any high school sports team, but their presence is increasingly deadly.
Some of Toronto's 70-plus identified street gangs have worked their way into the public realm through arrests or their own bloody acts of aggression, such as the Galloway Boys, Malvern Crew, Ardwick Blood Crew and the Jamestown Crips.

Others are known only on the streets and inside newly created but confidential police files: Block-13, The Gatorz, Chalkfarm Bloods and Five Point Generalz among them, several street and police sources tell the National Post.

Perhaps the most alarming development in the terra incognita that is Toronto's emerging gangland, however, is the confirmed presence here of the MS-13 or the Mara Salvatrucha, a gang whose parent group in the United States has been called "the most dangerous gang in America."

MS-13 was originally formed in Los Angeles by young men who fled the civil strife in El Salvador. The new immigrants were being terrorized by established street gangs and banded together, first for self-protection and later, recognizing their growing strength, as aggressors.

When several of the original members were deported, it gave the gang instant operatives in numerous Central American countries that helped build drug- and people-smuggling routes.

In the United States, the gang is notorious for beheading its victims and for directly confronting police officers with high-powered guns.

There has been nothing of that nature from the group of MS-13 in Toronto, but officers have confirmed its worrisome presence.

"It is the same gang. They are showing up here. It is difficult to tell exactly how affiliated they are because they are just starting to emerge here," said Detective-Sergeant Doug Quan, head of the gang section in Toronto police's Gun and Gang Task Force.

"Our intelligence shows that they are here and they are affiliated to the U.S. MS-13," he said.
The Toronto version of MS-13 has a presence in the west side of the city's downtown.
It has remained true to its roots and is comprised almost exclusively of young men of Latin American origin.
The emergence of new gangs and new information coming to light on older, more established street gangs leaves police gang officers chasing a moving target.

Officers have identified more than 70 street gangs in Toronto but only about 25 of them have escalated in police eyes to becoming serious criminal gangs, the likes of which would be covered by Canada's anti-gang laws.

These laws were designed to tackle Mafia groups and outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Hells Angels -- criminal organizations that remain far above the street gangs in terms of criminal scope and sophistication.

Toronto street gangs have perhaps 1,800 to 2,000 members and associates, police say. Gang size ranges from groups of 10 members who seek to control a single housing complex, a street or a park, to some with 40 or more members who seek a wider territory for drug sales.

The members are typically between the ages of 16 and 25.
Some of the more established gangs have members in their 30s or 40s, who are often seen as "elder statesmen," advising young gangsters while avoiding street confrontations, police say.

Some gangs have formal induction ceremonies, others maintain an informal structure based on personal friendships.
"There are internal hierarchies and designated leaders and informal leaders," Det.-Sgt. Quan said.
Some gangs force members to pay dues, some have a formal system of contributing to pay other members' legal bills. Some even have war chests to support the families of members who are jailed. Some have defined meetings at specific locations and times while others just seem to hang around together.

"It varies from gang to gang. Some have identifiable colours, tattoos, almost a uniform but others adopt bits and pieces, a hybrid of American street gang culture," Det.-Sgt. Quan said.

Many gangs evolved from young men going to school together or growing up in a neighbourhood together. As children they get into a little trouble, perhaps commit petty crimes together and form a bond.

They then start to hook up with other like-minded young people and their network expands. A stint in jail also introduces them to gang leaders.

The gangs have traditionally retained an ethnic component -- groups of Tamils or Jamaican immigrants, for instance, but that is changing. The gangs are starting to embrace Canada's multicultural ethos and police are finding white, black and Asian members in the same gang. A person's perceived loyalty to the group and criminal contribution are becoming more important than race.

As in the United States, the city's gangs have broken into two primary gang alliances, called the Bloods and the Crips, named for the infamous rival Los Angeles street gangs that first used the names.

The original founders of many of Toronto's gangs picked which of the gangs they liked and chose to self-affiliate with that culture, Det.-Sgt. Quan said. Since then, some have built relationships with their U.S. counterparts.

"Some have family or cousins or friends involved in gangs in the States and there are some direct connections between, say, a Chicago-based Blood gang that directly deals with a Toronto-based Blood gang," he said.

Many Toronto street gangs affiliate themselves to both one of the colossal U.S. gangs and to a tiny patch of Toronto turf. A gang like the Ardwick Blood Crew takes its name from the Ardwick townhouse complex many members once lived in and also their affiliation with the Bloods.

Generally speaking Bloods are rivals of Crips or, more accurately, a Bloods gang will typically support another Bloods gang and the same for the Crips gangs.

But if their territories come into conflict, money and the need for "respect" trumps all allegiances and blood will inevitably be shed.

"They are just so bold and so young and they make dreadful mistakes trying to establish themselves," Det.-Sgt. Quan said.

Those mistakes are increasingly causing alarm in Toronto as innocent bystanders are being caught in the crossfire.
Police find the gangs all seem to have at least one thing in common: "Drug trafficking fuels just about everything," he said.

Posted: 1/4/2006 4:17:13 PM EDT

[#1]

MS13 is a bunch of turds, ICE and local task gang force took a bunch of them out in Houston recently. Really dangerous group.

Posted: 1/5/2006 7:58:14 PM EDT

[#2]

They are spreading like wildfire. Nasty bunch to deal with. They have no problem with killing an officer, or anyone else for that matter, and moving on to the next city, town or whatever.

Posted: 1/6/2006 3:08:23 PM EDT

[#3]

You can't eliminate a threat like this with tactics currently employed. The tactics needed would not sit well with the general public who haven't been a victim of them yet.

Posted: 1/6/2006 3:51:48 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
You can't eliminate a threat like this with tactics currently employed. The tactics needed would not sit well with the general public who haven't been a victim of them yet.

Double tap center of mass!

Posted: 1/20/2006 6:44:32 AM EDT

[#5]

We currently have 3 MS-13 members locked up where I work. Or GI is constantly visiting them and getting information from them. 2 are in for murder and the other in for having a large amount of drugs and weapons. What these members are wanting is to get to the states, get training then when they get caught and shipped back home they have more "rank" then the cycle starts again.

Andrew

Posted: 1/20/2006 6:48:43 PM EDT

[#6]

There's probably at least 50 of them at any given time locked up in my place

Then there's the other Salvadorian Gang SWP ( Salvadorians with Pride, MS-13's Rivals )

Posted: 1/20/2006 6:55:04 PM EDT

[#7]

I am also a Guard MP, just need to get them declared domestic terrorists and take them out.

My oath says "against all enemies, foreign and domestic"

breathe, aim, squeeze...............

Posted: 1/20/2006 6:56:09 PM EDT

[#8]

There even in small towns in south carolina,

Posted: 1/21/2006 10:51:47 PM EDT

[#9]

Hey, nothin' to worry about man. They'll obey every single one of the "common-sense gun laws" in both our countries, to the letter.

Posted: 1/21/2006 10:57:20 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
I am also a Guard MP, just need to get them declared domestic terrorists and take them out.

My oath says "against all enemies, foreign and domestic"

breathe, aim, squeeze...............

Actually, since these guys often go on both sides of the deportation/importation coin, they should qualify as both.*

* If not as individuals, then definitely as a group. Lock and load, gentlemen. <Official "Get MS-13" Theme Song>

Posted: 1/22/2006 3:18:08 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
<Official "Get MS-13" Theme Song>

Heh... Nice.

Posted: 1/22/2006 3:23:08 PM EDT

[#12]

They are here in Virginia Beach as well. Earlier this week when one of their girlfriends got in the way of a deal they raped her, kidnapped her and drove her to Florida in an effort to smuggle her out of the country.

Posted: 1/22/2006 6:18:20 PM EDT

[#13]

If you don't mind me asking...what is their MO when it comes to attacking police? The media says "highpowered" or "powerful weapons" which could mean anything since most Media types wouldn't know a .410 from a 12ga, or the difference between a .25 and a 9mm.

I've heard of machete attacks... mostly on their own members or rival gangs, not on LEOs or WASPs... are we talking full automatic rifles, submachine guns, and .45s or are we talking .25s, .32s and an occasional .357 magnum?

I have heard they run guns, as in M-16s up from El Salvador but haven't heard any FA getting picked up by police....so again, do they USE this stuff or just sell them?

Thanks.

JAB

Posted: 1/22/2006 6:20:11 PM EDT

[#14]

Nashville is rumored to have a high activity level for the "Mexican Mofia".

Posted: 1/23/2006 6:18:24 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
They are here in Virginia Beach as well. Earlier this week when one of their girlfriends got in the way of a deal they raped her, kidnapped her and drove her to Florida in an effort to smuggle her out of the country.

That's one way to realize that the folks you thought were your "friends" weren't exactly so.

Posted: 1/24/2006 3:20:46 PM EDT

[#16]

They're here in Ohio also... None in my neck of the woods that I know of, although I suspect its only a matter of time.

If memory serves me correctly, there is some kind of group in El Salvadore that is comprised of police officers and ex-military men that basically goes around killing MS-13. Translated, their name means "Black Shadow", or something like that.

Anyway, its surprising to see that the Canadian press isn't blaming this directly on America or George Bush. As for America, it might be time we got off our asses and started defending our borders. Close down a military base in Western Europe (like Germany) and put the boys on our Southern border. A single Apache would have made sure what happened in Texas NEVER happened again.

Posted: 1/24/2006 8:37:42 PM EDT

[#17]

Sombra Negra.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - MS-13 has arrived...

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