[The] gangs are the "primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs" and several are "capable" of competing with major U.S.-based Mexican drug-trafficking organizations. "A rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships" with U.S. and foreign drug-trafficking organizations and other criminal groups to "gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs," the report concludes.
The problem has only been getting worse:
The gang population estimate is up 200,000 since 2005. Bruce Ferrell, chairman of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, whose group monitors gang activity in 10 states, says the number of gang members may be even higher than the report's estimate. "We've seen an expansion for the last 10 years," says Ferrell, who has reviewed the report. "Each year, the numbers are moving forward." * * * "Most regions in the United States will experience increased gang membership … and increased gang-related criminal activity," the report concludes, citing a recent rise in gangs on the campuses of suburban and rural schools.
MS-13 remains the threat which causes the most concern to law enforcement:
One group that continues to spread despite law enforcement efforts is the violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13. Michael Sullivan, the departing director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says the gang's dependence on shocking violence to advance extortion, prostitution and other criminal enterprises has frustrated attempts to infiltrate and disrupt the insular group's activities. "MS-13's foothold in the U.S. is expanding," Sullivan says. Kaiser says the street gang is in 42 states, up from 33 in 2005. "Enforcement efforts have been effective to a certain extent, but they (gang members) keep moving," he says. MS-13 is the abbreviation for the gang also known as Mara Salvatrucha. The group gained national prominence in the 1980s in Los Angeles, where members were linked to incidents involving unusual brutality. Since then, it has formed cells or "cliques" across the U.S., says Aaron Escorza, chief of the FBI's MS-13 National Gang Task Force. * * * Escorza says a "revolving door" on the border has kept the gang's numbers steady — about 10,000 in the U.S. — even as many illegal immigrant members are deported.
Read National Gang Threat Assessment 2009
*** In Alexandria, VA the MS-13 leader that runs the Washington, D.C. faction known as Normandie Locos Salvatrucha was indicted on federal racketeering charges involving two shootings.
*** Criminal prosecutions by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office jumped by 47 percent in 2008 from the previous year, and the clamp down on street gangs was a significant factor in the increase:
The largest increase was in the Gangs and Organized Crime bureau, which more than doubled its number of cases over two years, from 109 in 2007 to 226 last year. Those included indictments against 15 members of the Nine Trey Headbustas gang in Camden and 25 guilty pleas from members of the Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods gang who were indicted in 2007.
During the raids, officials also confiscated three loaded semiautomatic handguns, more than a pound of cocaine and 100 grams of heroin. In addition, authorities seized three vehicles and about $50,000 in cash.
Under the sentence imposed Friday, 26-year-old Michael Smart of Irvington, a reputed "Universal 4-Star General" in Nine Trey, must serve more than 46 years before becoming eligible for parole. A Mercer County jury convicted Smart last week on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses. * * * He was one of 46 alleged Nine Trey members indicted in September 2007.
*** Two members of the Haitian street gang Top 6 were each sentenced to 25 years in prison following their convictions last December in Palm Beach County, FL on racketeering charges.
In exchange for their guilty pleas to racketeering-conspiracy charges, they each agreed to be sentenced to 25 years in prison. The killings, like 18 others, had gone unsolved for years, and until recently, details had been scant. But the men's plea documents give a glimpse of the bloody way the gang punished its own and dealt with those who crossed its path.
The four were among 34 indicted on federal racketeering charges, and to date half of the defendants have pleaded guilty and the remaining half are scheduled for trial in August.
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