In two attacks in Fairfax County, Va., MS-13 members severed the fingers of two rival gang members. In 2003, members stabbed to death a pregnant 17-year old, Brenda Paz, on the banks of the Shenandoah River after discovering she was a federal informer.  Tales of MS-13 violence are even more gruesome in Central America, where gang members have been linked to beheadings, mutilations and the spraying of bus passengers with bullets.

Mexican alien smugglers plan to pay violent gang members and smuggle them into the United States to murder Border Patrol agents, according to a confidential Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by the Daily Bulletin.  The Officer Safety Alert, dated Dec. 21, 2005 warns agents that the smugglers intend to bring members of the international Mara Salvatrucha street gang also known as MS-13 into the country for the deadly mission. "Unidentified Mexican alien smugglers are angry about the increased security along the U.S./Mexico border and have agreed that the best way to deal with U.S. Border Patrol agents is to hire a group of contract killers," the alert states. On December 23, 2004, one of the most widely publicized MS-13 crimes in Central America happened in Chamelecón, Honduras. An intercity bus was intercepted and sprayed with automatic gunfire, killing 28 passengers, most of whom were women and children

In February 2007, the courts found Juan Carlos Miranda Bueso and Darwin Alexis Ramírez guilty of several crimes including murder and attempted murder. Ebert Anibal Rivera was held over the attack and was arrested in Texas after having fled. Juan Bautista Jimenez, accused of masterminding the attack, was killed in prison. According to the authorities, he was hanged by fellow MS-13 inmates

Newark, NJ August 19, 2007.  THE grim execution-style shootings that killed three college students in a Newark schoolyard two weeks ago bore many hallmarks of gangland slayings, and the culprits clearly wanted it that way.  Three of the four victims, two women and two young men aged 18 to 20, were forced to kneel facing a wall before being shot in the head. Both women, one of whom survived, were slashed in the face with a machete or knife. And the MySpace page of one of the six suspects, a 16-year-old who is still at large, pays loving homage to one of the country’s most feared and hyped gangs: La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a Central American gang that has become synonymous with bloodthirstiness.

Adelphi, MD October 25, 2004  According to testimony presented at the four week trial, Israel Ernesto Palacios was a member of the Langley Park Salvatruchos (LPS) clique of MS-13.  At some time prior to the night of  October 25, 2004, Palacios met with another MS-13 member to discuss and investigate rumors that Nancy Diaz was associating with a rival gang. Witnesses testified that shortly thereafter, Palacios, James Guillen and other MS-13 members attended a meeting of the LPS clique in Prince George's County, Md., in which clique leaders discussed plans to kill Diaz. On Oct. 25, 2004, Guillen drove two other MS-13 members, Diaz and another juvenile female in his car, and dropped them off at the George Washington Cemetery in Adelphi, Md. According to testimony, two MS-13 members shot and killed Diaz, shot the other girl in the face and stabbed her twice in the chest to attempt to make sure she was dead, and then left the scene. On Aug. 25,
2005, Palacios and Guillen were arrested in connection with the racketeering, murder and firearms charges.

Nashville, Tennessee  January 10, 2007  In Tennessee. The Department of Justice announced the indictment of 13 members of MS-13 today which alleges that gang members killed three people and attempted to kill at least seven others. The indictment further alleges that MS-13 was organized in "cliques," including the Thompson Place Locos Salvatruchos clique (TPLS), which operated in Nashville, TN.

New Haven, CT Dec. 30, 2007.  Veterans are outraged that a war memorial in New Haven has been vandalized. The Vietnam War Memorial at Long Wharf was spray painted with the threatening words "Kill whites and  MS 13."  Members are involved in drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and even human trafficking and their presence is growing in the U-S. Just this summer, police in the Boston area did a big round-up of MS 13 gang members

Toronto, Canada  Jun 5, 2008 Toronto police have arrested 17 people who they say are members of MS-13, a notorious street gang with roots in Latin America, after an investigation that highlights concerns about gangs expanding north into Canada's largest city.  During a five-month investigation, police said, they learned MS-13 was targeting a member of Canada's justice system, but refused to be more specific.The suspects are facing a total of 63 charges, and police said they seized 6.5 kg of cocaine during the raids

Greenbelt, Maryland May 13, 2008  A federal jury convicted Wendy Garcia, age 25, of Hyattsville,
Maryland, today for obstruction of justice, in connection with the murder of an MS-13 gang
member by other MS-13 members.  According to testimony at the five day trial, Garcia lived in an apartment in Hyattsville with MS-13 leader Israel Ramos Cruz and their infant daughter. On November 22, 2003 Cruz
and several other alleged MS-13 gang members met inside the apartment to discuss whether to
kill gang member Randy Calderon who had participated in a fatal stabbing. They were concerned
that Calderon would cooperate with the police if arrested for the murder. Shortly after the
discussion, Calderon was fatally shot by one of the individuals present at the discussion.

San Francisco, CA June 22, 2008.  Arrest of illegal alien murder suspect Edwin Ramos. Ramos is currently charged with the June 22, 2008, triple murder of Tony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew in San Francisco's Excelsior District. Edwin Ramos, shot and killed a father and two of his sons following a minor traffic accident.  Ramos, "based on . . . numerous documented contacts" as being an active member of the MS-13 street gang. The records, which document that he is not a U.S. citizen, also show Ramos's previous March 30, 2008, arrest related to weapons and gang charges. San Francisco prosecutors declined to charge Ramos. He was released on April 2, 2008.  Likewise, Ramos's juvenile criminal record remains sealed, although reports in the San Francisco Chronicle revealed that Ramos is an illegal alien who was found to have committed two (2) felonies at the age of 17 - a gang-related assault and an attempted robbery of a pregnant woman.  Despite his violent criminal behavior Ramos, a Salvadoran native, was not turned over by San Francisco juvenile justice officials to federal immigration authorities. San Francisco law prohibits local officials from cooperating with federal officials in deporting illegal aliens.
 

September 28, 2004 Washing Times Article A top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico and the United States -- including a stronghold in the Washington area -- in an effort by the terrorist network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans -- mostly gang members -- into the United States. Although they are actively involved in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, Mara Salvatrucha members in America also have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortions, rapes and aggravated assaults -- including at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely mutilated his hands. The Salvadoran gang, known to law enforcement authorities as MS-13 because many members identify themselves with tattoos of the number 13, is thought to have established a major smuggling center in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas, from where it has arranged to bring illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico into the United States. Authorities said al Qaeda terrorists hope to take advantage of a lack of detention space within the Department of Homeland Security that has forced immigration officials to release non-Mexican illegal aliens back into the United States.

El Shukrijumah, born in Saudi Arabia but thought to be a Yemen national, was spotted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, having crossed the border illegally from Nicaragua after a stay in Panama. U.S. authorities said al Qaeda operatives have been in Tegucigalpa planning attacks against British, Spanish and U.S. embassies. Known to carry passports from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad, Guyana and Canada, El Shukrijumah had sought meetings with the Mara Salvatrucha gang leaders who control alien-smuggling routes through Mexico and into the United States. El Shukrijumah, 29, who authorities said was in Canada last year looking for nuclear material for a so-called "dirty bomb" and reportedly has family members in Guyana, was named in a March 2003 material-witness arrest warrant by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia, where U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty said he is sought in connection with potential terrorist threats against the United States. A former southern Florida resident and pilot thought to have helped plan the September 11 attacks, El Shukrijumah was among seven suspected al Qaeda operatives identified in May by Attorney General John Ashcroft as being involved in plans to strike new targets in the United States. Citing "credible intelligence from multiple sources," Mr. Ashcroft said at the time that El Shukrijumah posed "a clear and present danger to America."

STATEMENT OF JOHN P. TORRES Homeland Security to U.S. Congress  Elaborates on MS 13 and the threats the organization poses to national security.