Investigation and Analysis of Organized Crime

The Birth of the MS13 in New York

When Edgar Torres came to Long Island, the Mara Salvatrucha did not exist. There was no trace of graffiti with the letters M and S anywhere. He was barely five years old, and the year was 1985, when... Read more

Weekly InSight: Why Latin America Is the Most Violent Region on Earth...

In our March 8 Facebook Live session, Co-Director Steven Dudley and Senior Editor Mike LaSusa...

Report Sheds Light on Private Sector Role in Colombia Conflict...

A new report on the role of private economic actors in facilitating grave crimes by paramilitary...

MS13 Feud Spreads to Mexico, but Gang's Presence Remains Limited...

The killing of a dissident member of El Salvador’s MS13 gang in Mexico City suggests the rift...

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The Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) is one of the world’s largest and arguably most violent street gangs. After relatively humble beginnings in Los Angeles in the 1980s, it has spread to more than a... Read more
Dany Balmore Romero García was sitting in class at a vocational college in El Salvador when he got a message from a friend. On the news, they were saying the US Treasury Department had included him... Read more
On December 13, 2015, MS13 gang leader Edwin Mancía Flores, alias “Shugar,” made a phone call from a prison in El Salvador. On the other end of the line was José Martínez Castro, alias... Read more
There is a telling section in the indictment of alleged MS13 members filed by El Salvador's Attorney General’s Office as part of Operation Jaque. It comes on page 223 of the 1,355-page accusation... Read more
On June 23, 2015, Jaime Alexander Monge and Larry Jesus Navarete were talking on the phone. Monge was in Arkansas. Navarete was in the California state penitentiary system. The two were talking about... Read more

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