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WUSA9 reports that the Prince George Police Department announced the arrest of five suspects connected to the notorious Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) street gang after the gruesome discovery of a slain 16-year-old boy stabbed more than 100 times and lit on fire in a Virginia field on March 9th.Police told local media that the victim, Jason Chicas, was also part of the "MS-13 clique" in question. Chicas was "killed inside of a home located in the 7000 block of Varnum Street in Landover Hills, Md. in Prince George's County. Police say his remains were then driven to Stafford County." His body was discovered...

FBI bulletin outlines possible terrorist plot at Texas border BY ALFREDO CORCHADO AND JASON TRAHAN The Dallas Morning News DALLAS - (KRT) - Dirt roads trace pale lines across a desolate landscape of bald peaks and plunging canyons near Texas' Big Bend and bridge the international boundary at dozens of improvised crossings. For decades, these routes have been used to smuggle drugs and humans. Now there is growing concern they could become deadly conduits for terrorism. The concern is buttressed by a confidential but unclassified FBI intelligence bulletin, obtained by The Dallas Morning News, that contains the vague outlines of...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the MS-13 gang could be designated as a terrorist organization. Asked by Fox News's Tucker Carlson on Tuesday whether he thinks the designation would be helpful, Sessions replied, “I think so, perhaps. I believe it could qualify for that." "There are rules that I guess the State Department does to establish that," he added. El Salvador's government has already designated MS-13 a terrorist group. Sessions called the gang "one of the most violent gangs in the history of our country." “We can devastate this gang. We’re going after them," he said. "We’re not going to...

A member of the MS-13 street gang who had been deported from the U.S. four times stabbed two women and sexually assaulted a 2-year-old girl in a New York City suburb, police said Thursday. Tommy Vladim Alvarado-Ventura, 31, of Hempstead, pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail Thursday. His court-appointed attorney declined to comment. Alvarado-Ventura is suspected of assaulting the child between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning while the girl's mother was at work, acting Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said at a news conference. He said investigators are still working to determine exactly when the...

HOUSTON (AP) — Two MS-13 gang members from El Salvador, both in the United States illegally, held three teenage girls against their will and killed one of them in a satanic ritual, authorities in Houston said Friday. Miguel Alvarez-Flores, 22, and Diego Hernandez-Rivera, 18, have been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and murder — both first-degree felonies punishable by up to life imprisonment. Bonds totaling $300,000 have been set for each, but immigration detainers will keep both behind bars. The 15-year-old girl's body was found Feb. 16 with gunshot wounds to the face and chest. Homicide detective Sgt. Chris...

HOUSTON — Prosecutors unveiled startling details in the sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping of two teenage girls as two suspected gang members went before a judge Thursday morning in probable cause court. The men were arrested in connection to the death of one the victims.The Houston Police Department was investigating the aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl who claims she was kidnapped and repeatedly molested by members of the MS-13 gang at an apartment in the 2900 block of Gessner Road.Investigators said the teen went to an apartment on Glenmont Drive after running away from school Feb. 2. When...

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rampant gang violence and drug turf wars in parts of Central America are fuelling child marriage as girls seek to marry or couple with gang members and older men as a form of protection, researchers say. Traditionally child marriage has been most prevalent among indigenous communities in rural areas across Central America. But humanitarian groups working in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, say anecdotal evidence gathered in the past five years shows drug-fueled gang violence and organized crime is driving more girls to get married in cities. "We are seeing and hearing that increasing numbers...

The nation’s most violent street gangs—including Mara Salvatrucha—are actively recruiting new members at U.S. shelters housing illegal immigrant minors and they’re using Red Cross phones to communicate, a Homeland Security source tells Judicial Watch. JW has reported extensively on the crisis created by the sudden influx of mostly Central American minors that have crossed into the U.S. through the Mexican border in recent weeks. It has created havoc and will end up costing American taxpayers billions of dollars to house, process, medically treat, feed and inevitably educate the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) which are being dispersed throughout the country. They...

Federal authorities Thursday designated the notorious Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 as a “transnational criminal organization,” giving federal authorities more tools to fight the street gang that has its roots in Los Angeles. Under the designation, federal officials said they can now seize assets of gang members found within the United States jurisdiction. The designation is the first for a U.S. street gang. Among the organizations similarly designated are Japan’s Yakuza and Mexico’s Zetas, whose leader, Heriberto Lazcano, was killed by Mexican Marines on Sunday. An armed gang later stole his body from a funeral parlor. ... MS-13 began among El Salvadoran...

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's biggest gang trial in many years ended today when a jury convicted six men of racketeering and conspiracy as members of MS-13, a crime organization that waged war against rivals and defectors in San Francisco's Mission District and was found responsible for at least three 2008 murders. A seventh defendant, Walter Cruz-Zavala, was acquitted. The six men face up to life in prison when sentenced Nov. 30. Jurors deliberated for a week after a federal court trial that lasted more than four months. Prosecutors portrayed the young men as leaders or soldiers of a heavily...

Agent Mike Scioli of the U.S. Border Patrol confirms that the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol is facing a worsening problem with Mara Salvatrucha, a Salvadoran street gang that now controls the flow of arms, drugs, and illegal aliens into the U.S. After 9/11, Mara Salvatrucha attracted the attention of top al Qaeda officials, who realized that the gang could be used to smuggle operatives and weapons into the United States. An agreement was forged between the terrorists and the gang-bangers. In exchange for safe passage across the border, al Qaeda – through its cells in South America –...

SAN DIEGO – A member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha street gang was caught among a group of illegal immigrants Monday by Border Patrol agents in rugged country near Jamul. Javier Cortez Majano, 23, was among a group of five people stopped about 6 a.m. about two miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, said Border Patrol spokesman Mark Endicott. A records check showed that Cortez, a Honduran national, was a member of the gang, also known as MS-13, and had a criminal history in Arkansas, Endicott said. Founded in Southern California by Salvadoran immigrants in the 1980s, Mara Salvatrucha has...

TONACATEPEQUE, El Salvador — Police said on Wednesday they found the remains of what they believe to be eight to 10 gang victims at the bottom of a well outside El Salvador’s capital. Five detectives were lowered about 100 feet into the well, where they found skulls, bones, hair and possibly the remains of a child, federal homicide investigator Israel Antonio Ticas said. Police suspect the victims were killed by members of Mara Salvatrucha, a violent street gang with roots in Central America and strong ties in Houston. About two dozen of the gang members operate in and around Tonacatepeque,...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal authorities in San Francisco unveiled an indictment today against 29 people allegedly tied to a street gang, accusing the group of engaging in murder, drug trafficking, witness tampering, car theft and extortion. Those indicted include alleged senior leaders in the San Francisco faction of the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 gang, which originated in Los Angeles, has ties to El Salvador and is renowned for its savage tactics, federal prosecutors said. Most recently, authorities say, members of San Francisco's 20th Street clique of the gang have been tied to at least five slayings in the city, including...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal immigration authorities raided more than a dozen locations in San Francisco, Richmond and South San Francisco today, arresting several alleged members of the notorious MS-13 street gang, authorities said. Authorities said the investigation targeted a San Francisco-based faction of the violent group, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, which started in Southern California with roots in El Salvador. "This is a major take-down," said Northern California U.S. Attorney Joe Russoniello, adding that the investigation dealt with alleged drug trafficking, gun running, terrorism and extortion activities of the group. He declined to provide further details about the raids....

SAN FRANCISCO -- A suspected gang member accused of killing a father and two sons escaped prosecution in a weapons case earlier this year when the San Francisco district attorney's office concluded it didn't have enough evidence to connect him to a gun that a passenger in his car was carrying, authorities said Thursday. Edwin Ramos, 21, of El Sobrante, who police say is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang, was formally charged late Thursday with three counts of murder in the shooting deaths Sunday of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16....

While hundreds of Mexican soldiers are deserting the army to join drug trafficking gangs, California is facing the opposite problem: A growing number of gang members here have infiltrated the U.S. Armed Forces in order to receive military training. The numbers speak for themselves: In 2003 there were just 16 incidents of gang members in the U.S. Armed Forces, while in 2006 the total was 10,309, according to the study, "Gang-Related Activity in the U.S. Armed Forces Increasing," released in 2007 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Twenty-two official entities, including the Los Angeles Police Department, participated in the...

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Freer station apprehended a member of a Central American gang on Wednesday. Agents arrested the 18-year-old Mexican at a store in San Diego, Texas. Tattoos on his body indicated that he is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, commonly referred to as the "MS-13." During questioning the subject admitted being an MS-13 member. The man was turned over to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. To report suspicious activity such as drug and/or alien smuggling, contact the Laredo Sector Border Patrol, toll-free, at (800) 343-1994.

To duck radar, gangs ditch tattoos, go for college look CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala — Tattoos, baggy pants and tank tops are out. Smart blazers and university recruits are in. It’s an extreme makeover for Central America’s gangs. Facing harsh crackdowns by government security forces and citizen vigilante groups, they are trying to lower their profile. The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are known throughout Central America and the United States for their brazen tactics, including beheading their enemies and covering entire buildings and even their bodies with gang symbols. Now, according to anti-gang operatives, these traditionally uneducated and aimless youth...

A man that CBP agents say was trying to illegally enter the U.S. this week has been identified as a member of the fearsome MS-13 gang and has been caught trying to sneak into the country three times, CBP spokesman Richard Pauza said Friday.Customs and Border Protection agents found Jonathan Stanley Figueroa Hernandez, 28, hiding in a railcar at the Eagle Port of Entry on Tuesday, Pauza said. Figueroa Hernandez did not have identification papers; agents used fingerprints to determine his identity. Pauza added that Figueroa Hernandez has a lengthy criminal record in the U.S., including burglary, theft, possession of...