Terrifying Facts About MS-13 You Should Know

#1 Mara Salvatrucha 13

Also known as MS-13, spreads in the complete North America but was likely started in El Salvador. If one wishes to join the gang, he must commit severe acts of violence. Females wishing to join the gang must undergo the gang rituals involving several full-fledged MS-13 males forcing themselves on the female recruit as part of an ‘s3xed in’ ritual. It’s different yet most hideous.

#2 In Order To Become A Full Member You Submit To A Vicious Beating

This initiation ritual called a “jump-in” has been documented in numerous MS-13 cliques across the United States. A mid-level member or “Cheque” who wants to become a full “homie” must go through this ritual. After he receives approval from the boss, the Cheque invites gang members to viciously beat him for 13 seconds. As the gang leader slowly counts “one Mississippi… two Mississippi…” five or more homies deliver savage punches and kicks to the Cheque in the spine, head, knees, and groin. There is no holding back. MS-13 believes this reveals a potential homie’s toughness and grit. If you can’t handle this, there is no way you can handle life in the gang. If, after 13 seconds, the battered Cheque has not cried out or fought back, he becomes a full-fledged member of Mara Salvatrucha.

#3 Girls Who Want To Join Must Sexually Satisfy Up To 15 Gang Members

Girls who want to join MS-13 are not uncommon. A girl who wants to join the gang for whatever reason: safety, a sense of community, financial security, or influence, has two options. They can either “Jump-in” like the guys, or “Sex in.” In a “sex in” a girl submits to sex from as many as 15 gang members. When all the gang members are satisfied, she officially becomes a part of the gang. Girls who sex in, however, often find that they are treated as objects and derive little respect from other gang members. Those girls who enter the gang for safety or influence, after a sex in are sorely disappointed. Generally, a sexed in MS-13 has to submit to the whims of any gang member, whether they be sexual or violent.

#4 The Gang Is So Ruthless It Made El Salvador the Murder Capital of the World

MS-13 is notorious for violence and brutality. The gang's motto is “mata, viola, controla” or, kill, rape, control. Members don’t just do a drive by shootings, they get personal, using machetes because they are cheaper and more savage than firearms.

“MS-13 glorifies violence above all else,” said Assistant US Attorney Julia Martinez. Martinez was involved in a case where a young man, Adoni Martinez Aguilar, was lured into a park in Washington DC by MS-13 members, stabbed repeatedly with knives and machetes, then decapitated. He owed them $600.

Along with rival gang Barrio 18, Mara Salvatrucha made El Salvador the murder capital of the world. The country's homicide rate is 22 times that of the US. In the first few months of 2016, there was a murder every hour in the country. In 2015, there were 6,656 murders in El Salvador, the highest homicide rate in the world for a nation not at war.

#5 In 2016, MS-13 Members Went on a Killing Spree in Long Island

In October 2016, 35 MS-13 members were arrested in Long Island in relation to several killings in Brentwood, NY, most notably the murder of two teenage girls, 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas. The girls were beaten to death, their bodies found 50 feet from each other, close to an elementary school. Timothy Sini, the Suffolk County police commissioner, said at least five of the people arrested were high-ranking MS-13 members. All told six bodies discovered in Brentwood in just over a month.

“We’re in this for the long haul. Our goals are very clear: Solve the murders and eradicate this gang from Brentwood,” Sini said.

#6 MS-13 Throws Parties To Lure Young Potential Members Away From High School

MS-13 can only exist and grow as long as it has young members ready to fill its ranks and replace fallen homies. MS-13 cliques attract young men and women by throwing “skip parties,” where they invite high school students to skip school and party with the gang instead. The parties offer women, alcohol, and drugs and stand in stark contrast to a boring day of high school. MS-13 masterfully markets itself to kids as a group to be admired and respected. A teenager’s innocent desire to be cool and the party can quickly spiral into something much darker as MS-13 creates stronger bonds between the teen and the gang. Oftentimes the friendships and connections formed during and after these parties can turn a kid, who is having trouble with school or family, towards a life of violence.

#7 MS-13's Brutal Rivalry with Barrio 18 Once Resulted in 16 Murders a Day for a Month

MS-13’s biggest rivalry is with the Barrio 18, or the 18th Street gang. The 18th street gang emerged in the late ‘60s as a faction of the Clanton 14 gang. They were a Mexican American gang in Los Angeles, but as the years went on accepted other Latin American nationalities. Their presence grew in Central America in the ‘90s as a result of the same deportations that affected MS-13.

MS-13 had a brief truce with 18th Street gang in 2013, but it dissolved after a year. This led to the deadliest month El Salvador had seen in over a decade; about 16 people were murdered every day. Some believe the truce was a cover that allowed the gangs to grow.

#8 They Formed To Protect Themselves From Other Gangs

MS-13 started when a bunch of immigrants from El Salvador came to the United States in the 80s because of the civil war going on in their homeland. Many of them came to Los Angeles. These guys came from a lot of violence in their homeland, so they sure were not freaked out by the ghettos in California. There were a lot of Mexican gangs around that did not welcome them, so they had to prove how tough they were. They sure did. Mara means “gang,” Salva means they came from El Salvador, and Trucha means “clever.” They basically started their own gang and then got in tight with the Mexican mafia, and before long, everyone in Los Angeles knew who they were, which was not a good thing.

#9 There Are 50,000 Gang Members In Multiple Countries And 42 US States

You might not think that there are any members of MS-13 living near you, but you would probably be wrong. The FBI says the gang has around 50,000 members worldwide and in 42 states. I have to tell you, that’s something that gives me a little pause. Are you kidding me? There are 50,000 of these dudes roaming around the world?

#10 They Use Devil Horns Because Of Metal

Do MS-13 members really make these hand gestures because of metal? Well, obviously not, but still, the gang sign of the devil horns is a result of the fact that early members of the gang were just a bunch of dudes hanging around on street corners throwing devil horns around. Once the ultra-violent young guys showed up from the Salvadoran civil war, things changed a bit. The old guys are not around anymore, but one thing that has not changed is the devil’s horn symbol.

#11 Treatment of Women

Just as we have recently seen women being unexplainably attracted to join terrorist groups such as ISIS on their accord; similar instances occur within MS-13 as well. To most of us, it is unfathomable to envision ourselves falling prey to the seduction of a gangster, for some women it’s a reality. The young women who get suckered into this life are those who have no place to go, are naive, and are without family. Maybe it is partly fantasy, derived from what we see depicted in the movies: the bad boy suddenly changed by love and leaves behind his life of crime. This is most certainly not the reality that the women of the MS-13 face. Their track record speaks for itself. A well-known story is that of Brenda Paz, MS-13 member turned informant. Her tale began when she was a young girl as she ran away from home to start her endeavors in gang life. Years later she was detained by the police, where she was then convinced to testify and serve as a witness against her fellow gang members. It was only three weeks after she slipped her witness protection that her mutilated body was recovered by fishermen. “The system failed Brenda, and she failed herself. I just hope we now can do better for kids like her because of what we learned from Brenda.” Va. attorney Greg Hunter said.[1]Objects to be used and discarded is an accurate description of this gang’s treatment, or lack thereof, of women. In an interview, an El Salvador native, Rev. Gerardo Mendez recounts that gang members would kill “his woman” for the most minute reasons. He describes it as Neolithic.

#12 Up Close & Personal

Often when we see reports of MS-13 killing, the title reads something along the lines of, “MS-13 Member Accused of Slaying Teens,” not “MS-13 Shooting.” Historically this specific gang has been known for its use of machetes as opposed to guns. Some theorize that this is due to ease of access, but most likely it has something to do with the gang’s roots and the focus of making their crimes more gruesome. This is not to say that they solely use knives in their attacks. No matter which weapon they use, the crimes they commit are equally gruesome and hard to stomach. Some may call them crimes of passion, but the only passion of MS-13 is bloodshed. From baseball bats to knives, this gang rarely partakes in drive-by shootings. Recently within the United States, Long Island residents have experienced an uprise in gang-related homicides. In April 2017, the gang was credited with 11 murders.[5] It is well documented that people are more afraid of a knife attack than being shot. Most of us can relate: the thought of being stabbed sounds horrific, painful, and probably would result in a great deal of suffering. Being shot is seen as being impersonal and a quick death.

#13 Their Rivalry With Another Gang Resulted In 16 Murders A Day

A lot of the members of the MS-13 gang trained for and fought in the civil war in their homeland before coming to the United States. This is, in part, what made them so tough and so hard to deal with. The level of violence perpetrated by gangs in the United States was nothing to them; they had seen so much worse where they were from initially. To them, walking right up to someone and killing them was really not that big of a deal. Los Angeles gang members would roll all around, acting tough and posturing, while these guys were already used to killing people and not even blinking an eye. It’s no wonder that they soon became one of the scariest gangs in the history of the world.

#14 They Have Their Own Prison

So this is when you know that the gang that you’re a part of is truly tough — when you get your very own prison. There are no guards whatsoever inside of the prison as they would all be killed. They just throw a bunch of members of MS-13 inside, and the Salvadoran army guards it against the outside. The gang has its own prison because they would just kill any other inmate as well as any guard that was put inside. It was built for 800 inmates, but there are close to 3,000 that live there. Inmates in the prison all have certain jobs, such as cooks, carpenters, and nurses. So basically, your punishment as a gang member is to live in a prison with other gang members, which isn’t all that fun, of course, but for these guys, not too bad.

#15 Members Must Constantly Commit Acts Of Violence To Receive Respect

Just because you are a homie does not mean you can sit back and relax. A homie has to constantly show that he has earned the title. A young girlfriend of a Palabrero in Boston told a chilling story to law enforcement. Her boyfriend placed a pistol in her hand and told her to rob a grocery store. She did it without protest to prove herself a worthy girlfriend of a Palabrero. You can prove yourself by performing any action worthy of respect. Many of the murders perpetrated by MS-13 members are simply a bid to show how tough and dangerous someone is. There is not necessarily any other motive, which is why these random murders can be difficult for law enforcement to trace.

#16 MS-13 Members Openly Worship Satan

One of MS-13’s more terrifying tendencies is devil worship. The case of a girl killed by MS-13 members in Long Island reveals that she was murdered as an “offering” to a statue of Satan. The gang members were captured by police and admitted that they had sacrificed the girl to appease Satan. The autopsy revealed that the girl was not only killed but also viciously mutilated and raped. In another incident, gang members kidnapped a girl and abused her over the course of three days. The girl, thinking on her feet, managed to escape, but not before irreparable mental and physical harm. The girl will never forget her experience because her kidnappers left her with a tattooed image of the Grim Reaper from her knee to her ankle.

#17 Accusing A Homeboy Of Being A Rat Without Evidence Means Death

MS-13 deals with rats how any other gang does, with a bullet to the head. But the leadership has recognized that this can cause problems. If the palabrero of one clique has a dispute with a rival clique, he might accuse that rival palabrero of being a rat to secure the leadership’s blessing in his removal. To deal with this problem, the Council of Nine established a rule that if you accuse a fellow homie of being a rat without documented proof to back up your claim, then you will be killed instead. This effective policy dissuades false accusations and allows the gang to focus on finding real rats. Every gang member knows never to report a rat unless they possess irrefutable evidence.

#18 Their Tattoos Have Meaning

So, what’s up with all of those tattoos? While, of course, a big part of it is to make them incredibly freaky-looking, a lot of them also tell a story of who the person is, both as an individual and as part of the gang. There are lots of spider webs and symbolisms that are supposed to show the conflict inside the good and evil sides of the members. The number 13 is also pretty symbolic. So in reality, these guys are not all that different than the tattooed hipster in your local coffee shop, the one you see in the morning making your latte; they both have tattoos to show the world who they are. The only real difference is that the hipster will almost certainly not kill you.

#19 They Want To Phase Out Face Tattoos So The Cops Won’t Know Who They Are

There’s one rather obvious question about all the tattoos, though: if you’re running a criminal enterprise of any sort, do you really want to make a huge point out of the fact that you’re a criminal? Apparently, not so much anymore. According to dailycaller.com, “Numerous interviews on the ground in Central America suggest that MS-13 and other groups are limiting their tattoos and even encouraging some members to avoid them now. As the groups have ‘professionalized’ and are less focused on the community element of local gang members. This pragmatic step of avoiding tattoos has made the gangs more difficult to detect.” Makes sense. What’s the use of looking all tough if the cops suspect you of everything all the time?

#20 You Can’t Leave

Even while sporting face tattoos, some members become tired of the constant violence of life with MS-13 and decide to try and leave the gang. But when you join MS-13, you’re a homie for life. Leaving the gang without the permission of the clique’s boss, or “Palabrero,” means you are now a high-priority target with dangerous information. Even if you flee for months, MS-13’s extensive network means you are a dead man walking. A kid who joins at 13, then realizes a few years later that he wants to start over does not have that option. Gang life is not just a lifestyle for members of MS-13, it is a life. Perhaps that is what makes the gang so powerful. Every member has accepted that he will live with his homies and die with his homies.