The Examiner
written by Dave Gibson
Monday April 5, 2010
It has come to light that on Feb. 3, 2010, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neal McBride, ordering him “not to seek the death penalty” against three illegal alien gang members charged with robbing and murdering a man in Virginia last summer. All three defendants are members of the notoriously violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13.
Salvadoran nationals Eris Arguera, Alcides Umana and Adolfo Amaya Portillo are accused of killing Claros Luna on July 29, 2009 in Alexandria, Va.. According to court documents, at the time of the attack, Luna was allegedly transporting a prostitute from Maryland to Virginia.
The three were indicted on Nov. 24, 2009, on federal racketeering and murder charges, and faced a possible death sentence, until Holder stepped in.
The chief prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney Neal McBride, had previously indicated that his office would in fact, seek the death penalty for all three gang members. However, upon receiving Holder’s instruction against the action, he immediately filed papers with the court which stated the government’s intention not to seek the execution of the defendants.
The trial is set for May.
Holder has refused public comment on the matter.
MS-13 (or Mara Salvatrucha) was formed by Salvadoran, mostly illegal immigrants in the 1980´s, during El Salvador´s civil war. While the gang was originally made up exclusively of Salvadorans, they now accept all Central Americans as well as Mexicans. MS stands for Mara (slang for mob), Salva (El Salvador), Trucha (slang for on-guard).
MS-13 began in Los Angeles and as members moved deeper into the country, more loosely structured gangs or cliques were formed. However, these cliques continued to communicate with one another, and the network was formed.
Over the years, MS-13 has become more well structured, the FBI believes that the gang´s L.A. members have a higher status among the group. The gang typically targets high school and even middle school students for recruitment.
Initiation into the gang usually consists of the recruit committing a brutal attack on either a rival gang member or even upon an unsuspecting civilian. On November 26, 2008, Jonathan Retana was convicted of the murder of Miguel Angel Deras, which was part of an MS-13 initiation.
MS-13 has aligned themselves with the Mexican Mafia, which has a large presence not only on U.S. streets, but is also widely viewed as the nation’s most powerful prison gang. The smaller MS-13, pays the Mexican Mafia for protection while their members are incarcerated.
According to the FBI, there are at least 70,000 MS-13 gang members operating between Central America and the United States. The FBI also reports that the gang currently operates in 42 states as well as the District of Columbia. The highest concentrations are in California, the District of Columbia, New York, and Virginia.
MS-13 set up shop in Northern Virginia during the 1990s, lured by the region's fast-growing Salvadoran population, later expanding into the Maryland suburbs of Langley Park and Gaithersburg.
MS-13 engages in a wide variety of criminal activities including drug distribution, murder, rape, prostitution, robbery, home invasions, human smuggling, kidnapping, and carjacking.The gang is infamous for machete and grenade attacks. They have also been known to behead their enemies.
In addition to their other criminal activities, MS-13 also apparently acts as paid assassins, with the target being U.S. law enforcement.
In 2007, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported that they had obtained a confidential Department of Homeland Security memo. The function of the document was to issue an Officer Safety alert to U.S. Border Patrol agents that human smugglers were bringing MS-13 gang members into the country for the sole purpose of murdering the agents.
The alert reads: "Unidentified Mexican alien smugglers are angry about the increased security along the U.S./Mexican border and have agreed that the best way to deal with U.S. Border Patrol agents is to hire a group of contract killers."
The following is a short list of MS-13´s more infamous crimes:
-In 2004, a group of MS-13 members stopped a bus in Chamelecon, Honduras and riddles with automatic weapon fire. The attack resulted in the death of 28 passengers, mostly women and children. most of whom were women and children.
-During 2004-2005, there were two machete attacks in the Northern Virginia area. An Alexandria teenager lost four fingers during a savage encounter with MS-13 members, while a Fairfax man also became a victim of an MS-13 machete attack. Both incidents are believed to have been initiation acts.
-In 2005, two MS-13 members were convicted in an Alexandria, Va. United States District Court for killing a 17-year-old pregnant girl. A rope was placed around the neck of Brenda Paz, she was then stabbed repeatedly. Her body was then left along the muddy banks of Virginia´s Shenandoah River. The murder was retribution for the girl´s cooperation with a federal investigation into the gang´s activities.
-In 2006, Madison, WI police and FBI agents arrested three MS-13 members who were involved in stealing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of OTC medicines from 22 separate Walgreens drugstores in the Midwest. The medicines were being taken to a warehouse in Louisville, KY for resale. Madison Police Department spokesman Mike Hanson told reporters: "The suspects researched Walgreens throughout the Midwest and on a routine basis averaged $45,000 to $55,000 worth of stolen merchandise per day."
-In 2007, MS-13 gang member Everec Alvarez Chacon pled guilty to beating a man to death in a Suitland, MD cemetery. Two other gang members took part in the 2004 murder.
-In 2008, MS-13 gang member, Edwin Ramos, murdered three members of the Bologna family, father, Tony, 48, and his two sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, in San Francisco. Ramos was angry that the Bologna´s car was temporarily blocking his at an intersection and opened fire on them with an AK-47.
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