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                            Library & Multimedia
 MS13 in the Americas: How the World’s Most Notorious Gang Defies Logic, Resists Destruction
NCJ Number
              252546

Author(s)
          Steven Dudley;
                        Silva Avalos
Date Published

2018
Length
              90 pages
Annotation
              The goal of this report is to explain to law enforcement agencies and personnel the features and threat to public safety of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13), one of the world’s largest and most violent street gangs.
Abstract
              The report is divided into five sections. The first section reviews the multi-national history of MS13 in the context of the dynamics of war, migration, and public policy. Its presence has been documented in six nations. The report’s second section presents an overview of the gang’s philosophy, guiding principles, and ideology. It notes that MS13 is a complex phenomenon. It is less focused on gaining financial revenue than creating an image of power based on violence and social control. It draws on a mythic concept of community based on violent confrontations with its chief rival, the Barrio 18 (18th Street) gang. The third section addresses the organizational features of MS13. MS13 is portrayed as a diffuse organization of sub-parts with no single leader or leadership council for directing the gang. It is a federation with layers of leaders who interact, obey, and react to each other under the varying circumstances that face the gang.  Its two poles of power are in Los Angeles, where it was founded, and El Salvador, where many of its historic leaders reside. The report’s fourth section addresses the maintenance of the gang through recruitment, financial goals in its criminal economic enterprises, the featured strategy of violence, and social control within the gang. The report concludes with five case studies that illustrate MS13’s 1) organizational structure, 2) use of violence, 3) criminal migration, 4) involvement in international drug trafficking, and 5) political and social capital. The report concludes with policy recommendations
      
  
          Additional Details
Grant Number(s)
        2013-R2-CX-0048


  
  
        
  Agencies
        NIJ-Sponsored


  
  
        
  Publication Type
        Research (Applied/Empirical)
                                Report (Study/Research)
                                Report (Grant Sponsored)
                                Program/Project Description
                                Issue Overview


  
  
        
  Award
        Assessing the Transnational Criminal Capacity of MS-13 in the U.S. and El Salvador
    
  
  
Date Published: January 1, 2018
    
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