Crime And Deviance Codexery

MS-13

International criminal gang originating in Los Angeles, known for extreme violence.

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The gang originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s among Salvadoran immigrants who fled a civil war.[1][2]

Key facts and history

The number "13" is believed to stand for the letter M or to pay homage to the Mexican Mafia.[3] Under the leadership of Ernesto Deras, a former Salvadoran special forces member, the gang became a more traditional criminal organization.[4][5] In 2002, high-ranking members established the Ranfla Nacional, the gang's command and control structure.[6] MS-13 began as a collection of young heavy metal enthusiasts in Los Angeles who formed a group to defend Salvadoran immigrants against other gangs.[4]

After the Salvadoran Civil War ended in 1992, the U.S. government deported thousands of ex-convicts, many affiliated with MS-13, which allowed the gang to establish itself in El Salvador.[7][8]

What the cited sources add

The same article quoted RCMP Superintendent John Robin saying gang members feel Canadian police "won't treat them in the harsh manner they get down there"[9] A 2018 Patch article reported that MS-13 issued orders for members to assassinate police officers on Long Island.[10] The Patch article also noted that a former MS-13 member said he joined the gang right after his mother died.[10] ProPublica also reported that a U.S. task force suspected USAID funds to El Salvador had been diverted to benefit MS-13 leaders.[1][11]

A 2023 InSight Crime report stated that US deportation policies in the 1990s sent thousands of ex-convicts affiliated with MS-13 back to El Salvador.[8] A 2008 article in The Globe and Mail reported that Robert Morales, a prosecutor with Guatemala's Ministerio Publico, stated that members of MS-13 were seeking refugee status in Canada.[9]

References

  1. Miller, ""Delay, Interfere, Undermine"", ProPublica, June 12, 2025. facts only, no text reused. propublica.org
  2. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wolf, "Mara Salvatrucha: The Most Dangerous Street Gang in the Americas?", Latin American Politics and Society, 2012, p. 65–99; "MS-13: A Gang Profile", www.ncjrs.gov, 2004; New murders and more MS-13 members added to sprawling case against gang's clique Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times (August 24, 2021); Del Barco, "The International Reach of the Mara Salvatrucha", NPR, March 17, 2005; Cruz, "Five myths about MS-13", The Washington Post, 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "MS-13: Gangs infiltrating the suburbs of Washington, DC", dcspotlight.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sheridan, "In N.Va. Gang, A Brutal Sense Of Belonging", The Washington Post, June 27, 2004; Miller, "'You feel that the devil is helping you': MS-13's satanic history", The Washington Post, December 21, 2017; Thomas W. Ward, "Gangsters Without Borders: An Ethnography of a Salvadoran Street Gang", Oxford University Press, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Martínez, "I. El origen del odio", salanegra.elfaro.net, August 6, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Criminal Street Gangs justice.gov (May 12, 2015); Cruz, "Five myths about MS-13", The Washington Post, 2018; Criminal Street Gangs justice.gov (May 12, 2015); Cruz, "Five myths about MS-13", The Washington Post, 2018; MS-13's Highest-Ranking Leaders Charged with Terrorism Offenses in the United States justice.gov (January 14, 2021); MS13's Mexico Program Key to El Salvador Gang Negotiations Parker Asmann and Carlos García, InSight Crime (March 1, 2023) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lopez, "Gang Uses Deportation to its Advantage to Flourish in the U.S.", Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2004; "Second High-Ranking MS-13 Gang Member Arrested In Santa Cruz", YouTube, June 8, 2010; Miller, ""Delay, Interfere, Undermine"", ProPublica, June 12, 2025; Miller, ""Delay, Interfere, Undermine"", ProPublica, June 12, 2025; Rose, "Long Island Officials Concerned With Trump's MS-13 Crackdown Tactics", NPR, July 28, 2017; Lopez, "Gang Uses Deportation to its Advantage to Flourish in the U.S.", Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2004 (we also rea en.wikipedia.org
  8. Papadovassilakis, "The Road to El Salvador's State of Emergency", InSight Crime, 2023-12-06. facts only, no text reused. insightcrime.org
  9. Mason, "Canada is a haven to gangsters on the run", The Globe and Mail, January 7, 2008. facts only, no text reused. theglobeandmail.com
  10. Finn, "Reward Offered As Deadly MS-13 Gang Orders Long Island Cops Shot", Patch, April 20, 2018. facts only, no text reused. patch.com
  11. Wikipedia, "MS-13" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Miller, ""Delay, Interfere, Undermine"", ProPublica, June 12, 2025 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article MS-13 (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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