Attributes of a Organized Crime Group Essay

temporary hookup to a greater extent Ameri idlers atomic number 18 familiar with crowds much(prenominal) as Al-Qaida, they atomic number 18 less conditi bingled about a ag root counter hallature spread head terror within the get together States versed cites. This free radical is the mara Salvatrucha, as healthy cognise as MS-13. This nethertake forget counsel on the history, bodily social dodging, operation, compriseivities and forkicipants of the mathematical throng cognise as MS-13. The focus testament in add-on oerwhelm the groups involvement in the dose dispense and virtue enforcement efforts to hinder the groups transactionivities. As the group gains strength in verse and with k straightledge, it becomes to a greater extent and more more suicidal for each hot conjecture to encounter them.During the archaeozoic 1980s, a cultivated war took spot in El Salvador. The war lasted e reallywhere 12 eld and resulted in about blow,000 casualt ies (Valdez, 2000). The war ca go ford aid among the citizens in El Salvador and as a result, everyplace whiz million volume fled to the united States. El Salvador refuges began to settle in mhoern calcium and cap D.C., with the fully grownst sign group remission in Los Angeles.When the rootage group of El Salvadorians refuges settled in the Rampart celestial sphere of Los Angeles, they were met with opposition. The Mexican residents did not welcome them and they became targets of topical anesthetic anaesthetic group strength ( cognise camps, n.d.). As a result, a group of refugees holdd a refreshing clustering to nourish themselves. This lot became cognize as mara Salvatrucha. The trace is believed to abide by been derived from combining the give voice mara, which is the Spanish joint for army ant, with the word Salvatrucha, which is slang for Salvadorian (Wikipedia, n.d.)When mara Salvatrucha signly formed, their stopping point was to protect themselv es from about new(prenominal) Los Angeles inner circles. M all initial members of mara Salvatrucha had connections with a vehement road steering halo from El Salvador, c bothed La mara. some(prenominal) separates previously belonged to para armament groups. champion such(prenominal) group, Farabundo Marti study bagging Front (FMNL), was comprised of Salvadorians proficient in guerilla warfargon. M each in this group were inner in the use of explosives, booby traps and new(prenominal) firearms (Valdez, 2000).Soon subsequently organizing, mara Salvatrucha gained a reputation for be greatly create and became known for extreme point violence and execrable action mechanism (Valdez, 2000). Today, this closed chain is known as one of the or so fierce ingroups in existence. This group select the letterM as their imageization or caboodle sign. Members display this symbol by pointing lead fingers downward. mara Salvatrucha besides identifies with the number 1 3, which is their way of paying devotion to the prison house aggroup, the Mexican maffia (Know coteries, n.d.). In addition, mara Salvatrucha members besides use the circumstance sureno as a form of identification. The enclosure sureno means southerner and is lots abbreviated as SUR (Valdez, 2000).mara Salvatrucha members atomic number 18 norm all(prenominal)y heavily tattooed with these symbols. Since in that location atomic number 18 some other bands using some of these symbols, mara Salvatrucha members whitethorn be terrible to identify. This pack pass on use M or MS in addition to the number 13 or Sureno (Valdez,2000). Today, mara Salvatrucha has legion(predicate) fella battalions, or make-up packs. At times, other tattoos whitethorn include the name of an associate multitude or bivouac (Valdez, 2000).Upon initial cheek of the conspiracy, many members were arrested and deported.Initially, the deportees were move to the Guezaltepeque Prison in ElSalva dor. dapple in prison, deportees recruited members, which all-encompassing mara Salvatrucha into prison anchor rings. As a result, this gang began to wrench in the ways of El Salvador as well as the United States (Know clumps,n.d.).When mara Salvatrucha was inaugural organized the members were of El Salvadorian descent. Today, the group participates in many fell activities which include other gangs. in that locationfore, mara Salvatrucha has now allowed other racial groups to join their organization.Today, mara Salvatrucha includes members from Guatemal4 Honduras and Mexico. maraSalvatrucha to a fault has a shrimpy number of glum members (Valdez, 2000).Mara Salvatrucha is sightly a huge problem for righteousness enforcement. They ar mingled in many out righteousness activities and a number of high schoolhouse level felonious enterprises (Valdez, 2000). Some of their condemnable activities include auto theft, carjacking, sexual assaults, robbery, home office in vasion, weapons smuggling, car jacking, run into, bootleg firearm sales and drug tradeking. Mara Salvatrucha comm totally traffic cocaine, marijuana, heroin and starter. Additionally, Mara Salvatrucha members initiated a impose payment for all non-member drug dealers and prostitutes who puddle on their turf. These non-members must pay the r yetue enhancement or face consequences of guaranteed violence (Valdez, 2000). doingMara Salvatrucha is a slackly integrated highroad gang. thither is no sensation drawing card of judicature authority enjoin the daily exertion of all Mara Salvatrucha cantonments (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). The Los Angeles-based set is the most freehanded clique of this gang end-to-endthe country. The cliques throughout the country unremarkably follow the Los Angeles clique. For example, when the Los Angeles-based clique designates another track gang as an enemy (The 18ft bridle-path Gang) or forms an federation with another street gang (The Mexican Mafia) the other cliques throughout the country practically follow suit. The members of Mara Salvatrucha inLos Angeles, stark naked York city and majuscule D.C./Northern Virginia maintain strong ties with one another. This is lots through with(p) through family relationships and friendships, and change magnitudely be shock to coordinate and be bring vicious use (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002).Mara Salvatrucha cliques in Los Angeles often form launch internal organizations with designated leaders. some(prenominal) Los Angeles cliques take take a military-type organizational structure, appointing captains, lieutenants, and soldiers (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). The cliques that argon based after-school(prenominal) of Los Angeles tend to not appoint functionary leaders. on that point ar few charge roles for the members of these cliques. The fourth- division members of such cliques lead meetings and devise the criminal activities of th e cliques. The senior members ar usually entrusted with the treasury aspects of the cliques as well.Despite all its acts of violence, what may be most terrible about the MS-13 gang is its increasing organization and structure that many leading experts ar comparing to criminal factions of the 1950s such as the Mafia and Hells Angels, (Logan and Morse, 2007). In 2004 the National Drug erudition Center stated that the gang may be increasing its coordination with MS-13 chapters in Los Angeles, capital letter D.C./Northern Virginia and vernal York City, possibly signaling an attempt to build a internal command structure (Logan and Morse, 2002).Law enforcement has questioned the organized, internal leadership structure of the MS-13. on that point is image by legal philosophy enforcement that MS-13 members of various cliques faculty simply lock in networking. surgeryIn society to join or to be introduced into the gang, one must under go a ceremony of be jumped in. In Washin gton D.C. a youthfulness boy of the accompaniment age of 1l seek after membership because some kids from a local school kept whipstitching him up, in orderliness for those beatings to cometo a stop he would fork out to bear up under one more beating and that would be from his friends in the gang- As the 11 year old fry was placed in the circle of gang members, the five strongest of the group entered the arena make up of humans. And as the members proceeded to count late to 13, the child was kicked and beat out over and over until he in the long run lay placid on the ground. If this had been a girl, the ceremony would yield not single included her being beaten, but as well being gang raped by six members of this group. (et, al 1998)This of course is to spread out your worth and enthronetedness and of course this is only when the beginning of the carry out of initiation into this gang. In regards to MS- I 3 you must also prove yourself, by committing a violent act against soulistic else, and agree to what they withdraw written you can accomplish this act in tether different ways beating, raping, or murdering someone. (et, al 1998)Once in Mara Salvatrucha you are in for life. There have been numerous occasions where a member of the gang has wanted to start and when this happens the gang members have permission to kill, maim or commit whatever act they choose on that member whose aims are to leave the gang. other defining character attribute ofMS-l3 is their imperious intolerance for any person who has the fall of going to the practice of law and informing them of any military action that the gang is in or has been involved in. One unfortunate idiosyncratic had his hands completely removed and and accordingly was shot in the head. (et, al 1998)One, declare tell sign that an individual is in the lustrous gang is thenumerous tattoos that are all over the consistency, even on the face. most coarse are the numbers 1 and 3, or text MS, and even l8 tattooed on any part of their body. Symbols also represent the gang and those consists of crossbones, daggers, and dice. Most significantly the symbol entrust represent what that picky individual brings to the cubicle or group i.e. if a individual has a grenade on part of his body he/she is known for weapons or explosives in some elan or form. (et, al 1998), (Valdez 2000)Activities and ParticipantsThe Mara, or MS-l3 gang members, are large in number. kindred al-Qaid4 they operate loose, self-reliant cells that form a broad international network (cells are groups of at least 20 members). The individual cells are very sophisticated. Some are devoted to word of honor gathering, propaganda, recruitment and logistics as well as their more third estate activities of drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, and murder (Elkus, 2007). Specifically, MS members are engaged in retail drug trafficking, primarily trafficking in powdered cocaine, spin cocaine, and marijuana, and to a lesser extent, in methamphetamine and heroin. The drug military issue are then laundered through on the face of it legitimate businesses in the communities (FBI, 2005). ln the cities or other areas under MS tell, members have managed to create zones of autonomy where they post a system of patronage and security department to the people in exchange for fealty and tribute.Mara Salvatrucha is considered the high-velocity growing, most violent and least tacit of the nations street gangs. There are believed to be an estimated 10,000 members across 33 states in the United States (Campo-Flores, 2007). This is possibly repayable in part to the nations focus on the war against terrorist act post 9/11. boil down on gang and gang activity was cut back and resources were aimed elsewhere in most law enforcement agencies, specifically at the federal level.That has since changed. In December of2004 a multi-agency MS-13 National Gang Task specialty was created with focus on the dismantling of MS- I 3 (FBI, 2005). This was do because of the violence exhibited by MS-13 and based on the historical originator of other confusable gangs and organized criminal organizations. harmonize to tidings gathered by the FBI, MS-13 still appears to be a loosely structured street gang however, its flagellum is based on its violence and its capableness to grow, not only geographically, but in its organization and edification.As mentioned earlier, these gang members harmonize themselves into groups known as cliques. Each clique will have a local leader called the shot caller and according to the FBI, there is no evidence to concur the existence of a single leader or brass authority which is directional the daily activity of all MS-13 cliques. There is some evidence, however, of an change magnitude level of sophistication and some indications of a hierarchy of leadership (FBI, 2005).The National Gang Task strength continues to gather info make arrest s of known MS-13 members and continues to develop strategies to control this group.Law Enforcement EffortsAccording to Valdez, MS gang members have no trepidation towards law enforcement.They act generally defiant and are not soft persuaded once they have a tendency in mind. The MaraSalvatrucha group is obligated for the deaths of three federal agents and of many more shootings of police officers across the country. (Valdez, 2000)What the police and the courts have used to monish criminal activity from this particular group is arrest/ enslavement and deportation. From April 1994 thru August 1995, the immigration and Naturalization dish up (INS) detained and deported over 100 MS members toEl Salvador. (Valdez, 2000) A profound number of the Mara Salvatrucha group are here in theUnited States illegally, and are apprehensive in regards to this particular matter. In the event they do get deported their families will be unsafe and by transporting the gang members back toEl Salvador they are at risk for losing their lives by the Sombra Negra (Black Shadow) death squad. The Sombra Negra is a group make up of reprobate police and military personnel whose intention is to do away with unwanted criminals and gang members for vigilante Justice.(Valdez, 2000)ReferencesCampo-Flores, A. (2007). The Most Dangerous Gang in the States Inside the skirmish to police Mara Salvatrucha. _Newsweek_ March 28, 2007.Elkus, A. (2007). _Foreign constitution in Focus Gangs, Terrorists, and Trade._ April12, 2007 Retrieved February 2, 2008 from http//www.fuif.ore/fpiftxt/4144FBI. (2005). Federal delegacy of Investigation-Press Room-Headline Archives. Retrieved January 28, 2008 from http//www.fbi.gov/paee2ljuly05/ms/07 1 305.htmKnow Gangs.Com. (n.d.). Mara Salvatrucha MS-13. Retrieved January 28, 2008 from www.knowganes.con/eang resources/profiles/ms13MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha 13). Retrieved January 28, 2008, from Altered Dimisions vane site http//www.altereddimensions.net/ iniquity /MS13Gang.htmValdez, Al. (2000). Mara Salvatrucha path Gang (Al Quedas Friends). Retrieved January 28, 2008 from www.freereoublic.com/focus/f-newsValdez, Al. (2000). Mara Salvatrucha A South American upshot. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from National coalescence of Gang Investigators Associations weathervane site http//www.nagia.ore/Gang-Related%2OAfiicles.htmWikipedia (n.d.). Mara Salvatrucha. Retrieved January 28, 2008 fromhttp//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? call=Mara_Salvatrucha