tagged w/ ms-13
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This started off as the scariest Halloween that I've ever experienced. I'm not scared of very many things. This is a list of things that scare me:
Sharks
MS-13
Sharks are carnivorous sea creatures. MS-13 is a Salvadorian street gang. Both are known for savage murder. I wasn't near the ocean, so fear number one was not a concern. Fear number two became a concern, when I found out where the Halloween party was.
The party was at a historic hotel next to MacArthur Park. I knew the park for its lake, and gang-related drug warfare. After finding hearing the location of the party, I developed a plan to avoid all trouble. Run up Alvarado, to Sixth, and dash into the party, without getting murdered. Easy-peasy. But things changed when we were invited to pre-party on Alvarado and 11th.
Alvarado and 11th is the heart of MS-13 territory!
I'm not one of those white people who is terrified of all gangsters. Heck, earlier in the day, some Sureños were hanging out at the little grocery store next to my house. I could tell they were banging because they had tattoos on their heads. But they weren't mean, they were just shootin' the shit, eatin' popsicles. After I bought some apple juice, I told them to have a nice day. They even reciprocated the compliment.
But MS-13 are different. They're known for killing anyone. Like I bet if they were in their eating popsicles, they would have shot me for complimenting them. I've heard stories about them jumping onto buses and killing every passenger. They're tough dudes, whose only goal is to kill all haters.
It makes sense that they'd be tough, they're refugees from a brutal civil war. The dozen year Salvadorian civil war, left 75,000 people dead. These war children made their way to the barrios of Pico-Union, and the notorious gang was formed. (Those on the Right, critical of 'violence perpetrated by illegal immigrants' should consider that Ronald Reagan supported the violent regime that caused the exodus.)
So back to the pre-party in Pico-Union. As we waited for our ride outside the MacArthur Park station, I imagined the worst. MS-13 gangsters could jump out of the park, enacting the ultimate gentrification tax, murder. I thought of kids dressed as grim reapers, chopping off my head.
Then a masquerading Marla Singer, pulled up. She picked us up and drove us to her boyfriend's house. As we drove down Alvarado, I realized that I'd walked this route before. I'd been in MS-13 country, and absolutely nothing happened!
We got to her boyfriend's beautiful mid-century home. He answered the door as a Babe-Magnet (Barbies stapled to his outfit.) After several quick drinks, we walked a mile to the park to celebrate Halloween.
Because I personally visited. I have empirical evidence to suggest that this neighborhood is no longer scary.
This is when someone might say: "better safe than sorry." I think that utterance is part of the same fear-mongering conversation that local news talks about to make Halloween more scary.
Irrational fears about Swine Flu, poisoned candy, or flammable costumes, scare us from leaving our homes. I think that it's thoroughly important to decide if these fears correspond to reality.
My fear about getting murdered by MS-13 in northern Pico-Union, no longer correspond to reality. In 2005, MacArthur Park had the highest reduction of crime statistics per resident in the United States. New efforts to revitalize the downtown core, have dramatically reduced crime in the surrounding neighborhoods. So walking down Alvarado in Pico-Union at night isn't as scary as it was before.
As realities rapidly change, our fears about them should move at the same rate. We should constantly be asking ourselves why certain things scare us.
I've done this, and that's why I'll got to parties in MacArthur Park, but stay far away from shark-infested waters.This started off as the scariest Halloween that I've ever experienced. I'm... more
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ABC News reports that law officials are looking into a possible link between the seven-man crew charged with killing the Billings and Mexican drug runners and the notoriously violent gang MS-13.ABC News reports that law officials are looking into a possible link between the... more
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A man who left a ruthless street gang in Central America and won political asylum in the U.S. after starting the Los Angeles branch of an agency that rescues kids from gang life was arrested Wednesday as part of a federal gang crackdown.
Alex Sanchez, 37, who heads Homies Unidos, was taken into custody at his Bellflower home on federal racketeering charges, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. Eight other people were arrested. The indictment names 24 leaders, members and associates of MS-13, part of the Mara Salvatrucha gang affiliated with the Mexican Mafia prison gang.
It alleges crimes that include several murders, conspiracies to commit murder and narcotics offenses, Eimiller said. Several of those named were already in custody. Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney George Cardona said at a news conference that Sanchez was involved in a murder conspiracy in May 2006 while Homies Unidos was doing anti-gang work.
MS-13 is estimated to have several thousand members across the U.S. as well as throughout Central America and Mexico, and is known for its brutality.
An FBI news release said five of the defendants, not including Sanchez, allegedly conspired to murder a veteran detective with the Los Angeles Police Department's gang unit. The indictment also alleges members of the gang were responsible for seven murders and eight conspiracies to commit murder since 1995.
A well-known and respected anti-gang worker, Sanchez has testified as an expert in legal cases, lobbied for better intervention and prevention programs, and spoken to youths about the depressing consequences of gang life. Homies Unidos was founded in 1996 in El Salvador. Sanchez helped establish the Los Angeles office the following year. The office has helped remove tattoos from more than 240 gang members.A man who left a ruthless street gang in Central America and won political asylum in... more
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Jose Franciso Cardoza Quinteros told Canadian officials that he had killed at least four people, thrown grenades into crowds of rivals and been present at the beheading of a woman by a member of his gang, also known as MS-13.Jose Franciso Cardoza Quinteros told Canadian officials that he had killed at least... more
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The suburbs of the US are no longer the same as those immortalised in 1950s movies, with white families living in big houses and the father driving off to work in his Buick, past manicured lawns.
These days, it is more likely that English will not even be the first language you hear on the streets.
MS-13 - or Mara Salvatrucha - is the biggest and fastest-growing of the Latin American street gangs.
In Maryland alone, MS-13 members are accused of being responsible for a long series of violent crimes including murder.
Favoured tactics include decapitation by machete.
MS-13 started life as a group of young immigrants on the streets of California in the 1980s.
After nearly a million Salvadorans fled their civil war for the US, many of them settled in Los Angeles where gang violence was rife.
In the 1990s, the "maras" spread to Central America after many of their leaders were deported from the United States. The suburbs of the US are no longer the same as those immortalised in 1950s movies,... more
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