MS-13 seen as posing organized-crime risks
Street gangs, particularly MS-13, have become organized criminal enterprises in Central America and threaten to establish similar operations in this country, federal law-enforcement officials said yesterday. “MS-13 has a very well-entrenched, very well-disciplined clique structure in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras … organized along certain sections for homicide, robbery, kidnapping, extortion, all reporting to the ‘ranflero,’ or the leader,” said Robert Clifford, director of the FBI’s MS-13 National Gang Task Force. The FBI convened an all-day meeting yesterday with more than 80 officials — including government representatives from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico — to discuss the gang problem in the United States and in Central American countries and to share information and solutions. Full Story