Thread: Thirteen Alleged Members of MS-13 Gang Indicted

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Thirteen Alleged Members of MS-13 Gang Indicted on Racketeering Conspiracy Charges



WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Thirteen alleged members
of the street gang called La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, have been indicted
by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee on charges that
they conspired to participate in a violent RICO enterprise responsible for
killings and other violent crimes in Nashville, Assistant Attorney General
Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Craig S. Morford
for the Middle District of Tennessee announced today.
The one-count racketeering indictment names the following 13
individuals, all of whom are currently in federal or state custody:
* OSCAR SERRANO, a/k/a "Diablin"
* ESCOLASTICO SERRANO, a/k/a "Chito"
* OMAR HIRBIN GOMEZ, a/k/a "Lil Homie"
* DAVID ALEXANDER GONZALEZ, a/k/a "Psycho"
* ERNESTO ISAI MENDEZ-TOVAR, a/k/a "Joker," a/k/a "Choey"
* FRANCISCO DAGO MENDEZ, a/k/a "Silent"
* WALTER HERNANDEZ, a/k/a "Spanky"
* HENRY GARBALLO-VASQUEZ, a/k/a "Cuervo"
* ELISEO IGLESIAS, a/k/a "Smokey"
* RONALD FUENTES, a/k/a "Spia"
* ERICKA CORTEZ, a/k/a "Shorty"
* GEOVANNI PENA, a/k/a "Rata," and
* JOSE ALFARO, a/k/a "Liche."
"This indictment strikes at the heart of the MS-13 organization in
Nashville, and continues our efforts to put members of gangs all across the
nation on notice that they will be held responsible for the violence and
mayhem they cause," said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. "We will
utilize the same tools we used to put Mafia leaders behind prison bars to
confront the threat posed by violent criminal enterprises like the MS-13."
"The facts alleged in this indictment reveal that MS-13 is a well-
organized and extremely violent criminal enterprise that required an
aggressive, cooperative response from local and federal authorities," said
U.S. Attorney Morford. "The indictment reflects the commitment of the
Department of Justice and my office to continue to work with all law
enforcement partners to ensure that those who engage in violent street gang
activities in Middle Tennessee go to jail and do so on the most serious
charges possible."
U.S. Attorney Morford praised the cooperative partnership and
outstanding efforts of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department's Gang
Suppression Unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of
Homeland Security, the Davidson County District Attorney General's Office,
the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Tennessee, and the
Department of Justice's newly formed National Gang Squad.
The indictment alleges that the defendants were members or associates
of the MS-13 street gang, a violent international criminal organization
composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El
Salvador. The purpose of this enterprise was to preserve and protect the
power, territory and profits of the MS-13 enterprise through violent
assault, murder, threats of violence, and intimidation.
The indictment further alleges that MS-13 originated in Los Angeles and
quickly spread across the country, including to Middle Tennessee. It
currently includes approximately 10,000 members in at least 10 states,
Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, making it one of the largest street gangs
in the United States.
MS-13 gang members regularly engage in violent criminal activity,
including murders, assaults, and witness intimidation in order to maintain
membership and discipline within MS-13 and rivalries against other gangs,
according to the indictment. The violent nature of the enterprise and its
members is reflected by one of their mottos: "Mata, Viola, Controla"
("Kill, Rape, Control").
The indictment further alleges that MS-13 was organized in "cliques,"
including the Thompson Place Locos Salvatruchos clique (TPLS), which
operated in Nashville. The TPLS and other cliques allegedly worked together
cooperatively to commit acts of violence and their members operated under
the umbrella rules of MS-13.
According to the indictment, MS-13 members met on a regular basis to
report on acts of violence committed by their members with the goal of
inciting and encouraging even more violence. Leaders of MS-13 cliques from
across the United States allegedly met to discuss gang rules, gang
business, problem resolution, and issues involving members of different
cliques, and to promote overall unity between MS-13 gang members. Members
had to pay dues which were used to support MS-13 gang members imprisoned in
various places within the United States, including Middle Tennessee, as
well as those in El Salvador.
The indictment further alleges that Nashville-based MS-13 members and
associates killed three people, attempted to kill at least seven others,
and plotted to shoot or kill several more during 2006 in Nashville.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of life in prison
on the RICO conspiracy charge.
An indictment is merely an accusation and the defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmie Lynn
Ramsaur of the Middle District of Tennessee and Department of Justice Trial
Attorneys David Jaffe and John Han from the Criminal Division's Gang Squad.
Assistance was provided by agents and prosecutors from the National Gang
Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center (GangTECC). GangTECC is led
by the Criminal Division, and is comprised of representatives from the ATF,
Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S.
Marshals Service and ICE, among others. The center coordinates overlapping
investigations, ensures that tactical and strategic intelligence is shared
between law enforcement agencies, and serves as a central coordinating
center for multi-jurisdictional gang investigations involving federal law
enforcement agencies.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index ... s_id=54038

Feds indict 13 of Nashville’s most allegedly violent gang members
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
January 11, 2007

Thirteen local members of what federal authorities described as “pound-for-pound one of the most violent gangs in the western hemisphere” – MS-13 – were indicted on federal racketeering charges in Nashville Wednesday.

Metro Police and U.S. Attorneys said the criminal case would go a long way toward suffocating a criminal element that has remained largely unchecked in Nashville for more than a decade.

“MS-13 swept into Nashville like a pack of jackals, and they left a group of bloody victims in their wake,” Special Agent Jim Cavanaugh of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) told reporters in a Wednesday press conference.

The 13 individuals who federal authorities have taken into custody make up both high-ranking and rank-and-file members of a local arm of the El Salvadoran-born gang MS-13 – a gang that in Nashville, as well as in other U.S. cities, authorities said, traffics not only in drugs or in guns but in raw violence.

“MS” is an abbreviation for “Mara Salvatrucha,” a combination of several Salvadoran slang terms such as “fear us.” The Los Angelinos who brought the gang to the United States in the 1980s added the number 13.

Metro Police say the gang surfaced in Nashville in 1995. By that time, the FBI had declared MS-13 the most dangerous gang in America.

MS-13 became a prime target of the Metro Police’s anti-gang operations, but their secretive nature and relatively small numbers made them difficult to track, authorities said.

Still, a relatively small number of organized gang members were able to terrorize large segments of Nashville’s Hispanic neighborhoods for years, police and prosecutors said Wednesday, charging that the indicted MS-13 members are responsible for at least three murders, seven attempted murders, and a slew of violence.

Now – roughly a year after a joint federal, state and local investigation began – authorities say they have finally struck back with a serious blow.

And U.S. Attorney Craig Morford said the bringing of charges against Nashville’s MS-13 gang has only begun.

“We’re going to be looking into earlier years, and we’re going to be looking at additional potential defendants,” Morford said Wednesday in announcing the indictment.

“MS-13 is a well-organized and extremely violent international criminal enterprise,” Morford said.

And at least one arm of that enterprise is entrenched in Nashville, with at least one local “clique,” known as the Thompson Place Locos Salvatruchos, operating out of Antioch, he said.

That area has been heavily targeted by Metro’s “Operation Safer Streets” anti-gang program. But authorities on Wednesday would not give details on the tactics used in the investigation that led to Wednesday’s indictment.

Authorities also held back on saying how much of Nashville’s MS-13 makeup is either under indictment or investigation.

Despite being one of the largest street gangs in America, the gang is one of the smallest in terms of membership in Nashville, Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said Wednesday.

But MS-13 is extraordinarily dangerous here, Serpas said, largely because they are the exception to the local rule that gangs in Nashville are typically not overly organized or disciplined.

“This gang is probably the most notable exception,” Serpas said. “They are different than what we traditionally see here in Nashville.”

In addition to their propensity for violence, Morford said the Thompson Place Locos Salvatruchos – the only local clique authorities have recognized publicly – are connected to MS-13’s national leadership structure.

MS-13 members nationally are notorious for displaying unprovoked violence against rival gang members and members of the community, not to protect profits but just to protect their power, said Cavanaugh.

“MS-13 is pound for pound one of the most violent gangs in the western hemisphere,” Cavanaugh said.

That is one of the gang’s trademarks, he and Morford said.

“One of the strange things about this gang is that unlike a lot of gangs we will see – Bloods, Crips and other national gangs – this is not really a drug-based gang,” Morford said. “This is a violence-based gang. And their primary purpose for existing has to do with inflicting violence on other gangs.”

The indictment alleges that multiple members of Nashville’s MS-13 arm plotted to kill rival Nashville gang members. Neither Morford nor Serpas would identify the other mentioned gang or gangs.

Serpas said the indictment was just as important to damaging MS-13’s operating power as it was to sending a message that “there is a zero tolerance for gang behavior in the city of Nashville.”

Names of the 13 individuals named in the indictment are as follows:

Oscar Serrano, a/k/a “Diablin”
Escolastico Serrano, a/k/a “Chito”
Omar Hirbin Gomez, a/k/a “Lil Homie”
David Alexander Gonzalez, a/k/a “Psycho”
Ernesto Isai Mendez-Tovar, a/k/a “Joker,” a/k/a “Choey”
Francisco Dago Mendez, a/k/a “Silent”
Walter Hernandez, a/k/a “Spanky”
Nery Garballo-Vasquez, a/k/a “Cuervo”
Eliseo Iglesias, a/k/a “Smokey”
Ronald Fuentes, a/k/a “Spia”
Ericka Cortez, a/k/a “Shorty”
Geovanni Pena, a/k/a “Rata”
Jose Alfaro, a/k/a “Liche”

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http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index ... s_id=54078

Fighting gangs should be government’s focus

January 12, 2007

Local and federal law enforcement authorities announced indictments this week in a criminal case that should get the attention of every elected official in Tennessee.

The street gang the federal government identified over a decade ago as the most dangerous in America is alive, kicking and — according to the government — killing in Nashville.

Thirteen members of the notorious El Salvadoran MS-13 street gang were indicted on federal racketeering charges in Nashville Wednesday. The case appears to be a win for law enforcement who admit the gang’s activities went largely unchecked in Nashville for the last ten years.

“MS-13 swept into Nashville like a pack of jackals, and they left a group of bloody victims in their wake,” Special Agent Jim Cavanaugh of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) told reporters.

“MS” is an abbreviation for “Mara Salvatrucha,” a mix of Salvadoran slang terms including the phrase “fear us.”

Metro Police say the gang came to Nashville in 1995, well after the FBI declared MS-13 the most dangerous gang in America.

Metro Nashville officials are presently involved in a lofty discourse about the direction our city will take. From debating the shape of our stately skyline to the historic nature of our downtown to the development of new public facilities, Nashville’s leaders are awash in opportunities to debate our rosy future as a city.

Similarly, state government is so flush with money from higher than anticipated revenues and lottery money that legislators are talking about cutting taxes, investing anew in education and which office they should take.
It all paints a very comfortable picture.

But here, in our community, only minutes from the hustle and flow of our vibrant downtown, revitalized urban neighborhoods and busy State Capital, men the federal government say are ruthless killers roam our streets under the flag of a dangerous organized criminal army.

We challenge Metro officials to internalize the news of these indictments and let their true meaning sink in.

Then, Mayor Bill Purcell and Metro Council members should go to the Metro Police Department and ask them what resources they truly need to fight this kind of menace.

Metro mayoral candidates running for election this year should also state clearly and loudly what their plans would be in terms of prioritizing resources for police to fight gangs in Nashville.

And state government, particularly Gov. Phil Bredesen, should take the initiative when it comes to MS-13 and Tennessee’s other gangs. Campaigns against methamphetamines and in favor of literacy are a hallmark of the Bredesen administration. So should a campaign against gangs in Tennessee.

Great AKAs. These are the guys the Border Patrol was playing catch and release with.