MS-13: the story of the most brutal gang in the world (10 photos)

The group's members operate in the United States and South America. And even the government can't handle them.





"The Salvadoran Ant Brigade" or Mara Salvatrucha. It is also MS-13, it is considered the bloodiest organized crime group on the entire planet.



Appeared in the USA in the 1990s. The gang's core consisted of teenagers whose parents fled the civil war in El Salvador. The boys had been watching murders and inhuman beasts in their home country since childhood, so they came to America with post-traumatic stress disorder. So they were one step away from crime.

And they confidently took it.



The gang was formed in Los Angeles, at the beginning of the 1990s, more than 300 thousand Salvadorans lived there. The world-famous organized crime group was put together by very young guys, they were engaged in theft, mugging of peers and other petty crime. Over time, their number increased, the guys gained weight and entered into a fight with local criminals for the right to protect drug trafficking. The gopniks were distinguished by cruelty and absolute frostbite, so they quickly won a place in the sun and began to earn huge money. Therefore, the gang became even bigger and angrier. And they had no less weapons than the entire police in the city.



In addition to drug trafficking, they were involved in robberies, racketeering, contract killings, kidnapping, car theft, money laundering and fraud. In short, a full criminal bouquet. Over time, people from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico and other countries joined the organized crime group. A distinctive feature of the group is a huge number of tattoos. Some bandos covered themselves in ink from head to toe.



The MS-13 leaders did not forget about their native El Salvador: soon their gangster branch appeared there, after some time there were about 80 thousand people in it. The number of organized crime groups in the USA is about 15 thousand fighters.



It cannot be said that the US authorities did not fight them. The police actively caught them and put them in jail. Then the authorities decided to send the criminals home. But the thing is that MS-13 members were feared in El Salvador itself. And when they were extradited home from North America, local officials and security forces simply did not know what to do with them. In fact, the gang became an alternative government in the country and was not afraid of anything. And when they were put in any prison in their homeland, they quickly took it under their control - they killed some of the inmates, intimidated the rest.



That's why Salvadoran officials decided to put MS-13 gangsters in a separate prison. So that they would sort things out only with each other. This became the biggest gift for the criminals: if earlier they went to prison with great reluctance, now the term turned into one big corporate party. The gang established a thieves' way and received whatever they wanted from the outside: food, alcohol, any drugs. On weekends, they brought night butterflies to the most authoritative prisoners. So the guys spent their time as if in a five-star hotel. And there were practically no fights or showdowns, this was strictly monitored by the "overseers" of the prison.



And the Salvadoran authorities could do nothing. MS-13 was and remains a serious gang. The same can be said about its activities in the United States - despite all the efforts of the police.



And now Mara Salvatrucha has become a subculture. They write rap songs about her, write books, make documentaries and feature films. Apparently, the guys from MS-13 will continue to plague both the US and poor El Salvador for a long time.