Thread: City man suspected MS-13 member

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City man suspected MS-13 member
Tuesday, 26 September 2006
By ED CONRAD
edconrad@standardspeaker.com
An illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is a suspected member of America’s most dangerous gang is in Luzerne County prison following his arrest for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend over the weekend. Julio Alberto-Gonzalez, 25, was charged with simple assault and harassment by city police Officer Mark Zola.

Alberto-Gonzalez was arraigned before District Judge Joseph Zola on Monday morning and ordered incarcerated when unable to post $50,000 cash bail.

The bail amount is immaterial because Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a detainer on him, meaning he likely will be deported no matter the outcome of the case.

Alberto-Gonzalez has several tattoos – one bearing the initials MS-13, which is a gang that began in Los Angeles and now operates in 33 U.S. states as well as El Salvador.

However, the defendant denied any gang affiliation and informed Judge Zola, in Spanish through a court interpreter, that his various tattoos represent the initials of his mother, his girlfriend and his daughter, one of his two children.

When Judge Zola asked the defendant if his tattoos included initials that meant gang affiliation, Alberto-Gonzalez answered, “No!”

The judge responded with a smile: “Yes!”

The criminal complaint had been filed by Officer Zola, who testified in his criminal complaint that, at 1:13 a.m. Monday, he responded to Hazleton General Hospital for a reported assault on a female.
Upon his arrival at the hospital, he met with the victim, Vanessa Pinheiro, who lives in an apartment at 830 N. James St.

She informed him that she had received the injuries around 4:30 a.m. Sunday when Alberto-Gonzalez, her boyfriend, arrived home and began arguing with her.

“At that time Pinheiro proceeded to exit the bed and go into the bathroom,” the criminal complaint states. “Upon her return, Alberto-Gonzalez grabbed Pinheiro and threw her back onto the bed, causing her head to hit off the head board of the bed.

“Alberto-Gonzalez then proceeded to choke and punch Pinheiro until Pinheiro was able to kick Alberto-Gonzalez off of her.

“Pinheiro then was able to get up out of bed and was punched in the right arm by Alberto-Gonzalez as she ran out of the apartment to a neighbor.”

Officer Zola said, while speaking with the woman, he observed a bruise on her right arm near her shoulder as well as scratches and several bruises on the right side of her neck.

Alberto-Gonzalez informed the judge that he lived in Hazleton for the past seven years after moving here from Florida. He said he has had numerous addresses in the city while living here.

He told the judge he has worked construction the past six to seven years for a company in Wilkes-Barre and, even though he is paid by check, could not remember the name of his employer, nor the company’s phone number.

Until recently, MS-13 wasn’t that big a player in East Coast gang culture. The reason for its weak position was because it wasn’t very well organized, being comprised of groups of cliques that operated independently of each other.

However, law enforcement officials now report that gangs across the country have united and are comprised of members age 8 to their 30s from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

The leadership for these cliques comes from California – primarily – and El Salvador.

Robert Hart, senior agent-in-charge with the FBI, told the New York Times two years ago that the results can be devastating when individual groups of MS-13 unite.

“The differences, by doing that, obviously you have a much tighter organization, much stronger structures and, instead of having various cliques doing whatever they want, wherever they want, there is one individual who’s the leader and is able to control the payment of dues and the criminal acts they engage in,” Hart said.

“The result is very, very similar to what you would see in what we refer to as traditional organized criminal families,” Hart added.

The gang originated among Salvadoran immigrants living in Los Angeles and its primary locations are Philadelphia, the New York City borough of Queens and Tampa, Fla.

It’s estimated that there are 50,000 gang members in Central America and between 8,000 and 10,000 in the United States.

Judge Zola set a preliminary hearing for Alberto-Gonzalez for 9 a.m. Monday at Central Court in Wilkes-Barre.

Is he any kin to our Alberto?