My Piece On Operation Regional Shield And The Transnational Criminal Gang MS-13

My piece on the transnational gang MS-13 appears in the current issue of Counterterrorism magazine.

You can read the piece below:

Note: You can click on the above to enlarge. 

FBI: Transnational Gangs Part 3: Investigators And Prosecutors Join Forces

The FBI offers part 3 of a series on transnational gangs.

The success of the Central American Law Enforcement Exchange (CALEE) program hinges on bringing together U.S. and Central American law enforcement officers who share a common cause in the fight against violent transnational gangs. During the most recent CALEE, an important new partner was added to the group—prosecutors.

“We have seen that when prosecutors and investigators work together from the outset, cases tend to have more successful outcomes,” said Special Agent Grant Mann, who helped plan and administer CALEE 2015, the sixth session since the program began in 2009.

In the U.S, it is typical for FBI agents and prosecutors to sit down at the beginning of an investigation to discuss possible charges and investigative strategies. Historically, that collaborative process is less common in Central America—but thanks to programs such as CALEE, it is gaining acceptance.

During the recent three-week training program focusing on transnational gangs MS-13 and 18th Street, a federal prosecutor from Los Angeles who specializes in gang cases briefed the approximately 40 CALEE participants about recent prosecutions and investigative techniques in his jurisdiction, and he traveled with the group from Los Angeles to Houston and then to El Salvador.

El Salvador Attorney General Luis Martinez assigned prosecutors to brief the group in San Salvador and embraced the concept of his office and the police working together from the beginning of an investigation. “Gang members are terrorists who have penetrated our institutions,” he said. “We have to fight this for a better future, for the well being of our families.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2016/january/transnational-gangs-part-3-investigators-and-prosecutors-join-forces/transnational-gangs-part-3-investigators-and-prosecutors-join-forces?utm_campaign=email-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fbi-top-stories&utm_content=506097

You can also read the first and second part of the series via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/01/fbi-transnational-gangs-part-2.html

FBI: Transnational Gangs Part 2: Countering the Threat with Strong Partnerships

The FBI offers part two of a series on transnational gangs.

At the start of the FBI’s recent Central American Law Enforcement Exchange (CALEE) program, participants from U.S. police departments and their counterparts from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Panama were strangers, but they shared one thing in common: a commitment to make their communities safe from violent gangs such as MS-13 and 18th Street.

By the end of the three-week program, the men and women had overcome language barriers and become friends as well as partners—and they were armed with new resources to fight the transnational gang threat: a network of intelligence sharing, expanded contacts, and access to FBI-led task forces throughout Central America.

“There’s a synergy between the gangs that helps them grow and become stronger,” said Special Agent Jason Kaplan, the FBI’s legal attaché in El Salvador. “As law enforcement, we need to develop that same relationship with each other, because the gangs are doing it, and if we don’t we are going to fall behind.”

CALEE was developed in 2009 with that spirit of collaboration and partnership in mind. This year’s group of nearly 40 participants traveled to Los Angeles and Houston before spending a final week in El Salvador, where the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs have grown powerful and extremely violent. In each venue, participants received training and information about different jurisdictions’ approaches to managing their gang threat.

You can read the rest of the report via the below link:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2016/january/transnational-gangs-part-2-countering-the-threat-with-strong-partnerships/transnational-gangs-part-2-countering-the-threat-with-strong-partnerships?utm_campaign=email-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fbi-top-stories&utm_content=504841

You can also read part one of the FBI series on transnational gangs via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/01/fbi-transnational-gangs-part-1.html

FBI: Transnational Gangs Part 1: Understanding the Threat

The FBI offers part one of a series of reports on the threat of transnational gangs.

The town of Sonsonate, not far from the Pacific Ocean in western El Salvador, is home to a prison housing more than 800 inmates. Like many of the prisons in this Central American country, Centro Penal De Sonsonate incarcerates only gang members—and, by definition, each one is a killer.

La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and the 18th Street gang require their mostly teenage recruits to undergo at least two years of initiation before becoming full-fledged gang members. One of the final tests for membership is to commit murder.

“That is certain, you have to kill,” said Special Agent Julian Igualada, who is part of an FBI team that works in El Salvador with local law enforcement and the government to fight the transnational gang threat, because what happens there—and elsewhere in Central America—has a significant impact on the safety of U.S. citizens at home and abroad. Gang leaders in El Salvador routinely order their subordinates to commit crimes, including murder, on U.S. soil—and many times these orders are issued from behind bars.

“El Salvador has become the epicenter of gang violence in Central America and represents the largest connection to gang crime in the U.S.,” said Special Agent Grant Mann, who works in the Safe Streets and Gang Unit at FBI Headquarters in Washington and helps U.S. and Central American law enforcement agencies forge partnerships in the battle against transnational gangs.

“The gangs respect no borders, so law enforcement must respond in kind by working together,” Mann said. His unit recently sponsored a Central American Law Enforcement Exchange (CALEE) that brought Central American police officers and prosecutors together with local law enforcement personnel from American cities where MS-13 and 18th Street operate. It was the sixth such exchange the FBI has sponsored jointly with the U.S. Department of State since 2009. The goal of CALEE is to have participants share intelligence about the gangs as well as best practices.

You can read the rest of the report and watch an FBI video via the below link:  

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2016/january/transnational-gangs-part-1-understanding-the-threat/transnational-gangs-part-1-understanding-the-threat?utm_campaign=email-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fbi-top-stories&utm_content=503876