Feds target El Salvadoran crime syndicate after thugs plot to kill agent
BY John Marzulli


Friday, November 13th 2009, 4:00 AM

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain suspect in Flushing, Queens, this week.

Nine were busted in predawn raid targeting El Salvadoran gang MS-13.

Reputed gang member shows off rosary tattoos after his arrest.



The rise of M-13 in United StatesThe MS-13 gang's plot to murder a federal agent in New York has triggered a fierce crackdown - a blitz of predawn raids that have netted nine arrests.

"If they believe it's business as usual to threaten one of our agents, or any other agent, they're going to find out they're very wrong," said James Hayes Jr., special agent in charge of investigations for the New York office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Our response is going to be swift, decisive and overwhelming."

It's not just tough talk.

The Daily News witnessed some of the raids earlier this week, watching as hundreds of agents fanned out across Queens and Long Island in search of dangerous gang members.

An agent toting an M-4 rifle - because MS-13 allegedly tried to buy weaponry that could penetrate body armor - had one question as he left: "Which way is the hospital?"

As first reported by the Daily News, the feds learned MS-13 leaders in El Salvador had ordered the assassination of an ICE agent from MS-13 turncoats.

Reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres confessed he had traveled to New York from Virginia to help carry out the killing, according to court papers.

Hayes said the threat was credible and noted that MS-13 has a history of attacks on law enforcement in Central America, where the gang has deep roots.

"We recognize MS-13 as one of the most violent street gangs," he said. "They're ruthless."

Early Tuesday, efforts to round up gang members in the country illegally and shake loose more information about the plot got under way.

More than 200 law enforcement officers from ICE, Drug Enforcement Administration, Secret Service, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the NYPD gang unit gathered for a tactical briefing at ICE headquarters in Chelsea.

By 6 a.m., the agents were rolling with target locations punched into GPS computers.

In a parking lot in downtown Flushing, ICE agent Jason Molina convened a last-minute meeting with his team about their destination.

"It's a white house. There's no numbers on it," an agent said.

When they reached the stucco home on 146th St., the agents quickly secured the perimeter.

MS-13 graffiti was scrawled on the rear wall and a large butcher knife protruded from the doormat near the basement.

Two men heading to work were detained until their immigration status could be checked.

"Have you ever heard anything on the street about threats MS-13 put out against law enforcement?" Molina asked them.

A reputed MS-13 member was sleeping in the sparsely decorated apartment. There was a tattoo of rosary beads - a gang symbol - on his neck and chest.

He claimed he had never heard of MS-13 but was arrested for being in the country illegally.

Officials said nine gangsters and associates were arrested in the raids, including one believed to be part of the assassination conspiracy.

"We're sending a message to them that our gang is bigger than their gang," said one fed involved in the operation.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com


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