Thread: Feds eye possible gang hit plot vs US law enforcer

November 4, 2009 7:35 AM ET

NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities are investigating a claim that MS-13 leaders in El Salvador ordered the execution of a U.S. law enforcer who's been cracking down on the street gang's New York activities.

A reputed MS-13 member told authorities that the gang was trying to get a high-powered assault rifle to penetrate the federal agent's bulletproof vest.

The man was being held on a warrant from Virginia when he made the claim. He said he came to New York to coordinate a plot by gang members in Queens to kill the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

The New York Daily News obtained the information from legal documents.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11440309

We better start handing out the death penalty to any gang members who murder law enforcers. Stop them from organizing in jails and letting them loose. Send a message loud and clear - mess with our law enforcement officers is signing your own death warrant.

Originally Posted by miguelina

We better start handing out the death penalty to any gang members who murder law enforcers. Stop them from organizing in jails and letting them loose. Send a message loud and clear - mess with our law enforcement officers is signing your own death warrant.

i gotta better idea. just give the death penalty to ANY KNOWN GANG MEMBER period. why wait for them to kill someone else

MS-13 gang leaders puts out hit on ICE agent assigned to crackdown

BY John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, November 4th 2009, 5:28 AM



El Salvadoran leaders of the MS-13 gang allegedly put out a contract on the federal agent responsible for a crackdown on its New York factions, the Daily News has learned.

The brazen plot to assassinate the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was revealed in an arrest warrant for reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres.

Torres tipped authorities to the plan after he and four other MS-13 members were stopped by NYPD detectives for hassling passersby on Northern Blvd. in Queens last month.

He told cops he had information to pass on, and was debriefed Oct. 22 at Rikers Island, where he was being held on a warrant issued in Virginia, according to court papers.

Torres said "the order for the murder came from gang leadership in El Salvador," ICE agent Sean Sweeney wrote in an affidavit for a new warrant charging Torres with conspiracy.

Torres, who belonged to an MS-13 "clique" in Virginia, said he was put in charge, and traveled to New York in August "for the specific purpose of participating in the planning and execution of the murder plot," Sweeney wrote.

Gang members were trying to get their hands on a high-powered assault rifle, like an M-16. to penetrate the agent's bulletproof vest.

Another MS-13 informant told authorities the agent was marked for death because the gang was "exceedingly angry" at him for arresting many members in the past three years, the affidavit states.

The murder was supposed to be carried out by the Flushing clique, according to the informant.

Federal prosecutors have indicted numerous MS-13 gang members on racketeering, murder and drug trafficking charges. The targeted agent was the lead investigator on many of the cases.

Brooklyn Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann ordered Torres held without bail Friday. His public defender did not return a message seeking comment.

Torres immigrated to the U.S. in 2001 from El Salvador and is a legal resident.

The feds have identified various neighborhoods in Queens and Long Island as hotbeds of MS-13 criminal activity - including Jamaica, Flushing, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Roosevelt, Brentwood and Islip.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crim ... z0VuBAJDAX