MS-13 gang is recruiting newly arrived migrant kids in New

York, police say

They fled their homes in Central America by the thousands last summer to escape gang violence and
poverty.
Settling in places as wide-ranging as Texas and Long Island, these children sought refuge from the
brutal gang life that awaited many of them if they remained in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras.
But escaping that life, as many of the new arrivals found out, does not happen through just crossing
borders.
According to authorities in Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island, New York, street gangs some
with strong ties to the notorious MS-13 group- are vying to recruit the more than 3,000 migrant
children younger than 18 who have recently settled in the area.
"They were targeted by the Latino gangs that were already established here," Det. Sgt. Mike Marino,
head of the Nassau County Police Department's gang section, told Newsday. "The gangs did try to
recruit some of them."
While police in the area said that the gangs' recruiting efforts have been met with limited success,
residents of both Nassau and Suffolk counties say they have been going on long before the new
migrants arrived -- and that they fear the new children will be more susceptible to the pull of gang
life.
"They take children [for recruits], they take lives, they'll take anything," said Wilfredo Serrano, 56, a
small business owner from the town of Central Islip. "I came from . . . [El Salvador] to get away from
them [MS-13], but the same crime is happening here."
He added: "Now they've been going after the new arrivals . . . kids who are very vulnerable and have
already been through the worst in life."
Besides MS-13, police in Long Island say that they also have to contend with a number of other
street gangs, including the Latin Kings, Netas and Sureos, that are all actively recruiting new
members in suburban areas like Riverhead, Central Islip, Huntington Station and other
neighborhoods with established Central American communities.
MS-13, however, seems to be the most worrisome to both law enforcement and Central American
immigrants who dealt with the gangs brutal tactics in their home nations.
The gang was founded more than two decades ago in southern California by immigrants fleeing El
Salvador's civil war. Its founders took lessons learned from the bloody conflict to the streets of Los
Angeles, all the while building a reputation as one of the most ruthless and sophisticated street
gangs in the country.
With as many as 10,000 members in 46 states, the gang has expanded beyond its initial and local
roots and members have been convicted of crimes ranging from kidnapping and murder to drug
smuggling and human trafficking, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jason
Shatarsky told the Associated Press.

The gang now has a large presence in New York, Southern California, Washington D.C. and many
rural areas on the East coast with substantial Salvadoran populations. And in any community where
the gang operates, its members often prey on its own people, targeting residents and business
owners for extortion, among other crimes.
"MS-13 functions like all immigrant organized crime groups, they start by targeting their own
community," Lou Gentile, a former officer at the Organized Crime Unit of the Pennsylvania State
Police and founder of the investigative firm CSI, told Fox News Latino. "You're seeing a growing
Hispanic population in the Carolinas and MS-13 preys on their own, they exploit their own."
In May, three alleged MS-13 members were charged in the murder of three Long Island men and
plotting to kill four others.
Federal prosecutors indicted Edwin "Scarface" Acosta-Martinez, Sergio "Taz" Cerna and Arnolvin
"Momia" Umanzor Velasquez on charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and racketeering.
The three men allegedly killed another MS-13 member who was supposedly distancing himself from
the gang and whom they feared was a police informant.
They allegedly killed his brother, who was member of another MS-13 clique, to pre-empt his
presumed retaliation
"MS-13 is a scourge on our communities," said Diego Rodriguez, assistant director-in-charge of the
FBIs New York Field Office, according to Long Island Press. "The three defendants charged today
with murder demonstrate the extraordinary violence of this gang."

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