Ms 13 Gang Essay

Situated predominantly in urban areas, gangs are becoming a major problem in today's society. The youth and adults are turning into gang members often times to leave behind the current situation they are living now. Many people who aren't familiar or affiliated with gang members are known to be curious as to why it is that the youth and adults join a gang. Some answers might be the current situation, obtaining social status, sense of protection, amongst other personal reasons. Everyone who joins a gang has different situations about why they decide to associate with gang members. In the novel, G-Dog and the Homeboys by Celeste Fremon, focuses on the gang members about East Los Angeles. This book draws the attention on the youth residing within the East Los Angeles territory and a look at the East Los Angeles gang members and how they play a major role in the book as one of the Latino gangs in East Los Angeles.

Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the

The gangs have formed part of Central America. For a long time, but in the early 1980s they began to work. There are numerous reasons for the gangs to grow because of the lack of education, culture of violence, poverty, and dysfunctional families. The two largest gangs are the Mara Salvatrucha known as MS-13 or Maras and The Eighteen Street gang also known as Barrio 18. The Barrio 18 despises MS 13. The rise of the Maras happened with the migration and the blend of different street cultures. The gang known as Barrio 18 was originally formed by Mexicans immigrants. Over the years, each gang has grown and taken up 60 percent of the population. These gangs have taken over the territories and have also controlled over some prisons

Defining gangs have been compared to packs, teams, and groups. Participants of gangs do not necessarily commit violent acts or commence in illegal matters. The National Gang Center has come to a consensus on defining gangs with the commonalities of three or more members between the ages of 12 through 24, shared identity, recognized by others as a gang or crew, has levels of organization, and usually involved in criminal activities (Shelden, Tracy, Brown, 2013). Some gangs are excluded from this definition due to not proportionate with their usual activities. Overall, we can consider gangs to be founded when members share similar characteristics and establish a symbol to represent their livelihood.

Gangsters Without Borders by T.W. Ward is an ethnography about the El Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha. Wards spent years earning the trust of these youth in order to complete his research. Starting out Ward had three broad goals in mind to develop a clear view of gang members and gang life. The second objective of Wards, “To observe how gang members changed over time as they matured into adulthood,” peaked my interest in this ethnography.

The Mexican Mafia started in late 1957. Gangs that participate in the Mexican Mafia (EME) politics and put to work for the gang on and off the street are given a "red light". They are not to be assaulted. Gang members who do not kick back drug profits to the gang or do not take care of business are given a "green light" and their names

Originating in the United States, ms-13 and similar gangs have had a devastating impact on central America. This article describes the origins from the United States and how through the Los Angeles Riots and other tough on crime policies had the effect of placing many immigrants and criminals back in their home country of central America. The deportees some of that might have been criminals and taken to the United States as children, united in desperation to become ms-13. The article further describes the brutality that the gangs have committed in the region. Through drug trade, smuggling and senseless murder, life in central America has been disturbed by gangs and have become a national security there. The dangers of gangs in central America

Many of the leaders of the different factions of these gangs order members to commit crimes in the US. Both MS-13 and 18th Street gangs have positioned themselves in many places within US borders. The FBI reports as many as 42 states including the District of Columbia have operating cliques of MS-13. (The MS-13 Threat, 2008). MS-13 is involved in a large amount of criminal activities, ranging from car theft to murder. The gang is extremely violent, but mostly toward rival gangs which unfortunately involve innocent citizens caught in the violent crossfire. (The MS-13 Threat, 2008) The threat level is medium in the majority of the US bit is considered high in the western states, northeast, and any place where the Salvadoran immigrant population is larger. (The MS-13 Threat, 2008)

For many Americans MaraSalvatrucha or commonly known on the streets as (MS-13) is an unfamiliar gang but to (FBI) Federal Bureau Investigation,(ATF) Alcohol, Tabaco, Firearms and Explosives, and local law enforcement agencies,MS-13 is an uprising globalized menace of ruthless criminals who are growing in numbers exponentially. These plagues of criminals are not only making their mark here in the United States but they are deeply rooted in their country of origin, El Salvador and all throughout Central America with the exception of Costa Rica and Panama. From drug and human trafficking across the border, to murders, kidnappings, prostitution rings and drug distribution within the United States and other countries, MS-13 is a force to be

The gangs have formed part of Central America. For a long time, but in the early 1980s, they began to work. There are numerous reasons for the gangs to grow because of the lack of education, culture of violence, poverty, and dysfunctional families. The two largest gangs are the Mara Salvatrucha known as MS-13 or Maras and The Eighteen Street gang also known as Barrio 18. The Barrio 18 despises MS 13. The rise of the Maras happened with the migration and the blend of different street cultures. The gang known as Barrio 18 was originally formed by Mexicans immigrants. Over the years, each gang has grown and taken up 60 percent of the population. These gangs have taken over the territories and have also controlled over some prisons

A trademark of the MS-13, they have “established a reputation for extreme violence and for killing with machetes” (BBC). The MS-13 boast their tattoos and do not hide who their criminal activities, evident of the slaughtering of four young-males in New York last week. Although there is little overall leadership in the MS-13, the cliques formed are ripened with familial structure. The members will kill, rape, and die for each other at the expense of everyone else. Since they have inferior structure, the MS-13 employ a street type of gang activity. he MS-13 are easy to spot in a crowd because their tattoos are apparent and extravagant. Common tattoos include “MS-13, “MS”, “Salvatrucha”, the “Devil Horns”, and the name of their clique. However, similar to other gangs, they have “been moving away from the tattoos in an effort to commit crimes without being noticed and get away with them” (weebly). MS-13 typically wear blue and white, the colors of the El Salvadoran flag, bandanas, and sports jerseys with the numbers 13, 23, or 3. Although the MS-13 include various ages, they are strict when it comes to ethnicity in their membership. The majority of members are Hispanic and, specifically, are from Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. The MS-13 are regularly the lone wolf in the gang world, but are starting to form more concrete relationships with Mexican cartels (i.e. the Zetas) to heighten their drug trafficking

The first Ley Anti-Mara was immediately controversial. It criminalized gang association, allowing El Salvadoran police forces to arrest and imprison suspected gang members on the spot. The law also allowed the courts to try suspected gang members under the age of eighteen as adults. Moreover, the Ley Anti-Mara spells out a list of criminal offenses such as harassing a person on neighborhood streets in a threatening manner, fighting in groups of two or more in a public setting, and communicating or identifying themselves with maras by way of signs or tattoos.

Social Conflict Theory: The Social Conflict Theory states that people who are put down tend to stay down and be dictated by the force keeping them down. In the impoverished city in which this movie takes place in we see that people are very needy and have no dignity. It is in towns like this that many gangs find their burrows grounds and infiltrate these shanty towns to begin their cartels and reigns of terror. Here the people do not like the MS13 gang, but cannot do anything about it because they will be killed instantly. MS13 treat the people like dirt and freely rob, rape, and kill the people whenever they feel like it.

Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the

Street gangs in this country can probably be traced back to the first wave of Europeans who migrated to the colonies for a better life for themselves and their families. Many of the first gangs were formed as a means of self protection, with the thinking that there is simply strength in numbers. The missions of gangs in today’s society have grown and emerged to include many violent criminal avenues, including drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and extortion but the original thinking that there is strength in numbers remains true. Criminology experts believe that the number of teens involved in gangs or gang activity may be as high as 1 in every 5 people in most urban areas. Those number jump to 1 in every 3 people in