International Gangs Infiltrate Northern California

News10/KXTV
Thursday April 5, 2007

Law enforcement is seeing an upswing in gang violence in Northern California and it's not just a local issue. There's evidence exceptionally violent gangs, such as the Mara Salvatrucha, are on the rise worldwide.

The Mara Salvatrucha, also known as "MS-13," is widely believed to have formed on the streets of Los Angeles during the 1980s and early 1990s. Former MS-13 gang member Alex Sanchez, now director of anti-gang non-profit organization "Homies Unidos," said the gang was started by Central American immigrants. Specifically, the group was comprised of Salvadoran refugees who had settled in the Pico-Union district of Los Angeles after escaping a violent 12-year civil war in El Salvador. "They bonded among themselves and they started being called the Salvatruchas," Sanchez recalled.

Mara is Spanish slang for "gang." "Salva," in Salvatrucha, represents the Salvadoran heritage, while "trucha" signifies "being alert," Sanchez explained. He said the original Mara Salvatruchas began using the symbol "MS-13," the number 13 representing their bad luck as victims of war. He said most members had been deeply affected by the country's brutal violence. "Like their parents being raped or mutilated in front of them by the army or military or vigilante groups, actually traumatized them," he described.

Sanchez came to the United States as a refugee. In the late 1970s during a period of much civil unrest in El Salvador, Sanchez's parents settled in Los Angeles, working long hours in order to earn enough money to bring Sanchez and his little brother over five years later.

During the time his parents were away, Sanchez saw his homeland ripped apart in the form of fierce fighting and civil turmoil. He lived with a family friend and recalled the transformation of his once-peaceful surroundings. "There was a part of the cliff that was there," he said. "At night, sometimes they shot people there, execute them, throw them over the cliff or sometimes you would find the bodies there."

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Sanchez said he immediately felt distant from his parents. "When you don't have nobody to communicate with, especially after being separated from your parents so long and you don't know them any more and then you're being told all of the sudden, this is your mom and dad, you lose that communication," he explained. Sanchez turned to other youths in his neighborhood for support, many of which were also Salvadorans experiencing similar situations.

Sanchez said culture shock made their bond even stronger and they began defending their group from other established Latino gangs. "Now I felt part of something, that I wasn't afraid to show who I was," he said. "In return, you needed to defend it."

The gang eventually became known as one of the most violent, mimicking extreme violence many of its members had witnessed as children in war-torn El Salvador. MS-13 fought Mexican gangs as well as arch-rival Mara-18. The violence on the streets landed many members in handcuffs, including Sanchez. "I had been shot already, I had been in jail, I went through the juvenile hall system, I went through the prison system more than one time," he said.

It wasn't until Sanchez became a father that he decided to change his lifestyle for good. "It was about: what do I do? How am I going to take my experiences and live peacefully?" Sanchez recalled the day he asked himself, "Where are you going to be in five years? Are you going to be in prison, dead or do you want to be taking care of that child?"

Many MS-13 gang members were deported to El Salvador after the civil war ended in 1992 as a result of their trouble with the law, taking their gang culture with them. "During the war we didn't see gangs, then after the peace treaty, we saw young people forming gangs," recalled Lt. Hector Raymundo Mendoza, head of gang investigations for El Salvador's National Civil Police. Since 1992, he said the gang has multiplied faster than anything he's seen before. "We identified 66 new gang cliques last year alone," he said.

In some villages near El Salvador's capital, San Salvador, gangs rule the territory. "There are a lot of people that live in terror, fearing they'll approach them," said Jose Antonio Ponce, a villager whose family sells pupusas (a traditional El Salvadoran food) to help make ends meet. "It's hard for me to even find work, and then on top of it, we have these gangsters looking to take what little we do have," he said.

El Salvador's leaders have taken steps to control the rising gang problem. Mendoza said the National Civil Police recently formed a special gang division that focuses on gang prevention and outreach programs. El Salvador president Elias Antonio Saca Gonzalez also announced at the end of last year the creation of a justice and public security ministry to improve crime prevention programs in schools. He also passed resolutions to beef up the police force.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, police are also preparing for international gangs like the MS-13. As the cost of living increases in cities like Los Angeles, officials are seeing gangs migrate to other parts of the state, in addition to other parts of the country. Evidence of the MS-13 has already been discovered in the Sacramento region. "We've seen little sprinklings," said Sacramento Police Capt. Daniel Hahn.

A statewide gang prevention conference in Oakland in January addressed the issue of the MS-13, educating police forces in Northern California about the gang's characteristics. "We've been taking a look at it, because it's very prevalent in other cities and other parts of the country and in the state," said Hahn. "Some of these gangs like that gang are very violent and we don't want to see that come to Sacramento."

Local law enforcement officials like Hahn, Salvadoran police, and many anti-gang advocates, like Sanchez, agree that the only way to gain the upperhand on gang growth is through teamwork. They said a combination of policing, prevention and outreach, as well as counseling services for troubled youth, should be developed. "We can't rely on schools alone, police alone, any one organization by themselves, we have to do this together," said Hahn.

United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced in February that the U.S. would fund a transnational anti-gang unit that includes many Central American countries. The team will specifically focus on controlling the rise of the most violent international gangs like the MS-13.