Mara Salvatrucha

“They grab three or four young people wandering around and present them as suspects… blaming them for every single crime without justification.” –Maria Luisa Barjas
Violence and discriminaton is not the correct way to put a stop to the Mara Salvatrucha gang, and it’s also not just. The Mara Salvatrucha also known as MS-13 gang, started here in the United States by Salvodarians as a result of discrimination. Immigrants who came from El Salvador to escape the civil war that was taking place in there country were victimized and discriminated against by local gangs. Soon this immigrants though of a way to stop the way they were being treated by creating a gang to be protected. They soon became as one of the most dangerous and violent gangs. Members were caught in illegitimate doings and were deported back to there country, that’s how they spread trough Central America.

As a result of them forming the MS-13, when they went back to there on country they got discriminating on as well for being a gang member. Honduras was the first country to established anti-gang laws in an attempt to stop the MS-13. Soon after that, El Salvador established laws anti-gang laws such as La Manu Dura. Foolish laws like this one where taking many innocent people to jail. People that were suspected to be violating where arrested and faced to a 12 year sentence in prison even if no crime was committed. Something ridiculous as having a tattoo could be the trigger to your arrest. The police where abusing there authority. They where acting exceedingly unjust to the people.

All this anti-gang laws lead to a group forming called the Sombra Negra who kills the gang members. The Sombra Negra Started killing anybody that was thought to be from the MS-13 gang. People think that this death squad has sponsorship from the Salvodorian government, they deny it. It is also said that the members are compromised of off duty police and military personnel. Nobody has the right to kill like that just because you may be involved in a gang, they at least should receive a trial and see what there crimes have been if any, and be sentenced to prison and not be killed. There has even been prisons caught on fire that housed many MS-13 gang members, and there are rumors that the government has to do with it. All this discrimination going on has lead to many bad things, as bad as the MS-13 gang is they don’t deserve to be discriminated or killed, we need to reach out to them and find ways to cope with this major gang in an attempt to stop it.

Gang Protection

"My gang will protect me”- Unknown
This is what most of the kids that join a gang think, and there wrong. Being in a gang only increases the risk of them getting problems, and getting confronted by other gang members. Becoming a part of a gang suddenly gets them many enemies just like that. They no longer can go out of there house without any worries or fear; all of a sudden they become a target to many of the gangs out there. They are in a constant fear when they go out of there neighborhood or even inside. They don’t even know when they might get confronted. It could be anywhere and with anyone they might be with, putting the person they are with in danger also, maybe a girlfriend or family member. At last, the greatest level of danger they could get caught up in, bigger then just being confronted or being afraid of walking outside there house, is death.

Being in a gang means them becoming a target for death as well. Having that many enemies of that character, people that don’t care about what they do, that are dangerous, drug addicts, revengeful and relentless, don’t bring nothing but problems. Members live with daily concern of getting shot. They have to be careful everyday when they go out to the street, and have to be careful in what territory they step into. A gangster has many enemies and they don’t know when they step out of there house if there coming back; being in danger of when its there turn to get shot at because there in the wrong neighborhood is a thing they deal with everyday.

Gangs and Drugs

Gangs and drugs go hand in hand. For many street gangs the more market they have management of; the more gross income they get. In order for them to have control over the maximum drug market, they either have to use force, or make peace between there other gang competitors. Some gangs take domination of other inferior gang drug vends. When such an action as using force to get control, in some cases wars are made between the gangs involved. Many of gang related murders in prison are because of the wanting of power or trying to maintain it. In other cases instead of causing war and conflicts between the gangs peace is made. This kind of action is done to facilitate the selling of the drugs. For some gang members the drug market is a great way to make easy money. But like I said this kind of earnings is only for very some gang members not many.
According to a research done by a former gang member; the gang he was in consisted of a leader, two officers, 75 foot soldiers, and 200 rank and file individuals. The leader made up to 100,000 a year, the officers about 1,000 a month and the others no more then the minimum wage. Only a few realize that there’s not much money in for many of them.

Some gangsters that didn’t let the problems the drug market business brings you are the Gangster Disciples. This gangster that originated from Chicago has been making millions in the illegal selling of drugs. They consist of 300,000 members in Chicago alone. There rumors that some gang members even become police officers. They have ability to corrupt correctional officers, inside jails, and this way contraband smuggling operations take place. Gangs and drugs are compatible, they both can cause great harm.

Classification of Gangs

Do you know how many types of gangs there is? Gangs are classified in three different categories. Scavenger gangs are one of them. There are disorganized gangs, which have members that may be low achievers, and be likely to have violent or unstable behavior. These kind of gangs don’t have a stable leader; there leaders may change frequently. Scavenger gangs do low level crime, and there crime are spontaneous and without planning. Another kind of gang is called a territorial gang. This type of gang is more organized then a scavenger gang. Territorial gangs are known as fighting gangs that defend there territory, and there primary purpose is social and not economic. Some members usually have a troubled family life, may do poorly in school as well, and some may sell drugs.

Scavenger Gangs and Territorial gangs are nothing compared to corporate gangs. Corporate gangs have highly organized members. There members are set up to sell drugs for great profits. These types of gangs don’t care about things Territorial gangs and Scavengers gangs find important, such as symbolism and turf. Being involved in a corporate gang is something to take very serious; you may be in great danger. Being a member requires great discipline and fallows a certain code. It can cost your life if you mess up in any way; you have to be aware that there is a severe punishment for any misconduct. To be a leader of such organized gang you need to have a great deal of intelligence than other gangs, bosses of this gangs are highly successful career criminals that are capable of strategic planning. These many different types of gangs , even though some may be less dangerous then other’s, are need to be taken serious because each can cause harm the communities they are a part of.