I’ll be on Channel 8 News this morning between 10 and 11. On CNN I had to look into the camera, which is a little unnerving! Today I hope I get to speak to an anchor in the studio! Tune in if you can…
Posts Tagged ‘MS-13’
Local TV segment today
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Sharing Intel to fight transnational gangs
Thursday, August 13th, 2009A friend sent along a link I wanted to share with you here. The FBI is working closely with El Salvador to combat the MS-13 and M-18 street gangs.
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The members of a new international group formed to help fight the violent MS-13 and 18th Street gangs were meeting for the first time last month at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia when the reason for the group’s existence became perfectly clear: representatives from El Salvador and Mexico realized they had been tracking the activities of the same MS-13 suspect. Now both countries could benefit from their collective intelligence efforts.
“These gangs are transnational, and right now they pretty much cross our borders for criminal activity at will,” said L.T. Chu, an FBI intelligence analyst with our MS-13 National Gang Task Force and the program manager for the new group—the Central American Intelligence Program (CAIP).
The FBI is involved in investigative partnerships to battle transnational gangs, but CAIP, whose members are primarily from Central America, is the first organization to focus exclusively on intelligence.
At the annual Policia Nacional Civil Anti-Gang conference last spring in El Salvador, Chu said, “We determined that one of our weaknesses was exchange of intelligence. We realized that it was crucial that we set up a forum and a mechanism to exchange this information.”
That thinking is very much in keeping with the Bureau’s overall post 9/11 efforts to become a proactive, intelligence-gathering organization that prevents criminal activity rather than responding to crimes after the fact.
A joint initiative of the FBI and the State Department, CAIP consists of veteran criminal intelligence analysts from the U.S., El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and Canada who work gang-related matters. Besides intelligence sharing, the objective is to standardize reports and other intelligence products and to minimize the communication gaps between countries—gaps that currently allow gang members to operate across borders.
At its first meeting—the group will meet three times a year at rotating host countries—interpreters assisted participants who spoke little English or Spanish. But even with the language barrier, everyone understands the significance of CAIP’s mission.
“Gangs are a huge problem in Guatemala,” said Heber Ramirez, chief of intelligence analysis for Policia Nacional Civil de Guatemala. Through an interpreter he explained, “It is very important that we have established relationships with these countries so that we can track gang activities across borders.” And as CAIP works toward standardizing how intelligence products are produced, he added, “We will be reporting very specific information in very specific ways that everyone can understand.”
Douglas Funes, who heads the transnational gang unit for the Policia Nacional Civil in El Salvador—which includes two embedded FBI agents working gang-related investigations—agreed that CAIP will be a vital weapon in fighting gangs.
El Salvador is “contaminated” by violent gangs, Funes said, and MS-13 alone has some 15,000 members in the country, including many members in the prison population. “Perhaps the most serious problem with MS-13,” he added, “is that they are constantly recruiting new members.”
“MS-13 and 18th Street are developing constantly and changing their methods,” Chu said. “The only way to fight them is to understand their organizations from the top down. And the only way to accomplish that is through cooperative intelligence sharing across borders. That is why CAIP is so important.”
Peter Boyle show and another TV spot
Thursday, August 13th, 2009I was on the Peter Boyles show this morning. He’s a great guy, rides a motorcyle, and has had many well known guests talk on this show, from Hell’s Angels leader Sonny Barger to Hell’s Angels infiltrator Jay “Jay Bird” Dobyns, author of No Angel. I’m hopeful I can be on his show again in the near future.
News channel 8, in Washington DC has asked me to come in on Tuesday, 18 August at 10AM. It’s a local news station, but if you’re in the area, tune in!
Diane Rehm show follow up…
Thursday, July 30th, 2009So much fun!
The guest host, Susan was wonderful. Sarah Garland, my co-guest, was very articulate and smart. I enjoyed meeting her and chatting with her before we went in the studio for the show. And they let us keep Diane Rehm show gifts - a plastic mug and writing pad.
The callers were great. A lady from IL called, asking why we hadn’t talked about her small town, located 20 miles outside of Chicago. Another caller, who had worked in El Salvador monitoring deportees once they arrived in the country. He alluded to the fact that at the time, in the late 80s, early 90s, some deportees were killed when they arrived in the country - a very interesting perspective.
Have a listen, here!
Elliot in the Morning - DC101
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009This morning’s show ran for 1:15! When I asked him how long he thought it would run, at the beginning of the segment, he said, “we’ll have you on for about 10 minutes if you suck.” Apparently he thought it went well too.
We had a couple interesting callers. One guy claimed to have been a member of the Southside Locos for about six years. He recalled that when he was a member living in Alexandria, he and his homies were fighting against the MS-13 all the time.
And another caller said that he went to middle school with Denis Rivera, one of the characters in my book. The caller said that he and Denis had actually gotten into a fight and both were suspended.
Live radio shows in the studio are fun! I’m looking forward to Diane Rehm tomorrow.
More radio shows
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009It’s 5:45AM, and I’m preparing for the Elliot in the Morning radio show - DC101. It will be an hour-long live discussion, and my first in studio appearance so far. I’m sure we’ll talk about the book and MS-13, and I suspect we’ll talk about MS-13 activity in the southern Maryland area, especially around Langley Park.
You can listen live beginning 7:30AM, here.
Tomorrow, I’ll be on the Diane Rehm show with Sara Garland, author of Gangs in Garden City. I think they’ll have some FBI officials on the line as well, so it should be an interesting conversation. You can find the show here. We go live at 11AM EST.
A conservative estimate?
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009I’ve been collecting news stories that illustrate the presence of the MS-13 across the country. I’d like to highlight here a couple places where we don’t normally expect them to be a problem or a threat.
One story, published on 27 July by the Providence Journal-Bulletin in RI, highlights the growing number of gang members in an area known as Cranston, where on 19 May a gunman fired 12 shots and struck a “former member” of the Original Crips street gang, an innocent bystander, and a barber.
Fortunately the police chief in the area has gone public about a gang problem and is proactive about stopping it.
Newsday (NY), on 26 July, ran a story about a man from Ghana, a “laid-back guy” would was allegedly killed by a member of the MS-13 in Central Islip. This story goes on to recount two other MS-13 related murders.
In Charlotte, where the MS-13 has been growing at a steady pace, US Representative Sue Myrick (NC-09) announced on 15 July that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of the Dept. of Homeland Security will establish a full-time gang unit in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. So far, 70 “transnational gang members” have been arrested in the Charlotte area in 2009.
And in Jefferson, IN, investigators arrested on 24 July three men with “possible ties” to the MS-13. Drugs, a stolen handgun, an assault rifle, forged documents, and MS-13 paraphernalia were all removed from the residence, along with the three suspects.
There are many, many more such stories. Together, they paint a picture of the MS-13’s presence in corners of this country that most of us have never heard of. So when I think about the numbers, that the MS-13 is present in at least 42 states and 1,200 cities, I have to wonder: Is this a conservative estimate?
QnA part V
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009Q: Gang violence is a daily reality for some Americans, but certainly not all. Why should everyone be concerned about gang growth in this country? What can we do to control and limit it?
A: The MS-13 no longer limits recruitment to Latinos. There are many cases of Caucasian members. Cops across the country consistently say that parents are the last to know. The best way to limit street gangs is to invest in young people with more parental attention. The next best option is to create after school programs that keep young teens off the streets. Prevention goes much farther than intervention or rehabilitation.
Q. What are the best prevention strategies?
A: Awareness and after school activities are two of the most effective strategies used today. Facilitating classroom discussions and raising street gang awareness among parents go a long way toward helping children and their parents recognize a street gang presence in their lives. More importantly, parents who know the signs of street gang involvement are in a better position to address their child’s participation before it becomes too late. Oftentimes, however, parents work until late, creating a gap in time between school and when parental supervision in the evening. This after school period is when most gang recruiters strike. After school programs, such as team sports, are very effective at filling this gap and giving kids an organized outlet away from the enticing influences of gang members.
Q: Several of the law enforcement officers involved with Brenda Paz’s case made an heroic effort to help her escape gang life. Why, in the end, was it not enough?
A: Brenda was the first teenager in the history of the US Witness Protection program to enter without adult supervision. The program, which was designed for middle-aged mob informants, not pregnant teenage girls, failed to provide Brenda with the love and attention she so needed. She was alone too often, and eventually, at the deepest moment of her loneliness, the only person she thought to call was her boyfriend, an MS-13 member. He eventually betrayed her, which is ultimately what led to her death.
Another review…
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009This one from Newark, New Jersey:
THIS IS FOR THE MARA SALVATRUCHA:
INSIDE THE MS-13, AMERICA’S MOST VIOLENT GANG
Samuel Logan
Hyperion, 256 pp., $23.95
REVIEWED BY JEAN GRAHAM
“This Is for the Mara Salvatrucha” is a comprehensive study of a violent, mostly Hispanic gang founded in the 1980s in Los Angeles. It now boasts 60,000 members worldwide and has so penetrating a presence in the United States that the FBI has created
a task force to curb its growth.
But the book also is the compelling story of the brief life and violent death of Brenda Paz, who joined MS-13 at 15 and was killed by fellow gang members before she turned 17 because they suspected she was a police informant.
Brenda was the smart, popular daughter of Honduran immigrants living in California whose life fell apart when her mother became mentally ill. The family returned to Honduras, but then sent Brenda to live with an uncle in Texas so she could attend high school in America.
Brenda missed her family, wasn’t happy in her uncle’s home and soon succumbed to the companionship offered by MS-13.
In no time, this promising teen was covered in tattoos characteristic of gang members, involved in the extortion activities the gang inflicted on the Latino community, arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center.
Law enforcement personnel — from local police to the FBI — saw Brenda’s potential as a window into the elusive MS-13, and she became an invaluable source of information.
Although officials went to great lengths to protect her, even placing her in a witness protection program,
Brenda’s loneliness ultimately drew her back to the gang, who welcomed her — until clues led them to believe she had ratted them out to the police, which meant they had to kill her.
Logan, a journalist who has written extensively about Latino gangs, tells Brenda’s story with sensitivity and brutal honesty.
Another review…
Monday, July 20th, 2009This one from San Antonio, Tx.
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This is for the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America’s Most Violent Gang
By Samuel Logan
Hyperion, $24.99
By David Hendricks
One of the most frightening true stories you’ll read this summer begins close to home in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Carrollton.
In the first chapter of Samuel Logan’s “This Is for the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13,” a book that chillingly illuminates the gang threat in the United States, a teenage girl leads an innocent friend to his brutal murder at the hands of her gang-leader boyfriend just before Christmas 2001.
Brenda Paz of Honduras was horrified by the death, but not so much that she was deterred from seeking membership with MS-13. Paz is a 21st-century version of another Dallas-based outlaw: Bonnie Parker. Both are worthy of great empathy and maddening in their repeated bad choices.
Paz grew up in California and returned with her family to Honduras. But when her mother became ill, her father sent her to the Dallas area to live with her uncle. The uncle never paid any attention to Paz. She found school boring, so she turned to street life. Her personality sparkled enough that she was accorded access to the highest levels of MS-13, territory almost exclusively reserved for males.
After her Dallas boyfriend was arrested, Paz left Texas and ended up in northern Virginia, starting a relationship with another MS-13 leader and murderer. They were arrested trying to steal a car, and that is when Paz decided to become a police informant, violating the cardinal rule of the MS-13, never to “rat.”
Paz struggled with her decision to give police and the FBI information about gang activities, and when she entered the FBI’s Witness Protection Program as its first teenager, Paz emotionally was unable to deal with the isolation.
She developed father-daughter relationships with law enforcement officials who tried to help her make the transition to a better life, and our empathy for her grows. But Paz chose gang life.
Logan, a Latin American-based investigative reporter, develops back stories as he narrates Paz’s life. The MS-13’s roots go back to the impoverished neighborhoods of civil war-torn El Salvador. The gang formed among Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s; extreme violence was a response to rivalries with other gangs.
Through Paz, readers can visualize how children easily become gang members: Immigrant parents arrive in the United States and work long hours, leaving neglected children to develop their own “families” on the street.
Readers are left with the awareness that gangs are everywhere among us, that many members have jobs and families, that they can be invisible to the non-gang population and that violence is never far away.
David Hendricks is an Express-News business writer and columnist.
