Thread: TN: Pressure on cops to keep squeezing local gangs

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index ... s_id=54346

Pressure on cops to keep squeezing local gangs
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
January 30, 2007

Local police are expressing a cautious sense of optimism in the aftermath of a major racketeering indictment against 13 Nashville members of the MS-13 gang.

Less than three weeks after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville announced that a federal indictment had been unsealed against 13 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, members of the Metro Police gang unit that did much of the year-long investigation’s heavy lifting said the bust was a major blow to the Nashville arm of the notoriously ruthless gang.

At the same time, however, Metro’s anti-gang cops say that gang life on the streets has so far not been interrupted by a federal indictment that could land more than a dozen MS-13 members – and perhaps more, if another round of suspects are charged – in prison for decades.

“We believe it’s going to have a tremendous impact, because we felt like this was a tremendous blow to help dismantle MS-13 in Nashville,” said Metro Police Detective Matt Chance, who led the department’s work on MS-13 – a job that recently earned him investigator of the year honors from the department.

“But it’s still a little too early to tell,” Chance said.

That sentiment was echoed by the lieutenant in charge of the anti-gang squad, Mitch Fuhrer.

“It’s really too early, but right now we haven’t seen anybody doing anything different than they have been,” Fuhrer said.

But Chance and Fuhrer said the biggest victory against MS-13 operations in Nashville may not come through the activity that is shut down, but in the future activity that is prevented through deterrence.

“We think we’ve got them back on their heels,” Chance said.” And we think the word is going to get out, not just with MS-13 but with other gangs that the heat is on, the police in Nashville are on top of things.”

The police hope that potential new entrants into the gang – MS-13 and other – community in Nashville will simply look elsewhere, to other cities to “set up shop,” Chance said.

“But whether or not the message was sent, we don’t know that yet,” Fuhrer said. “Time will tell.”

While the joint-local and federal investigation continues, all involved in the crackdown are continuing to learn more about a gang that, while it has had a presence in Nashville for over a decade, few outside the specialized gang unit really understand.

Unlike most gangs, both in Nashville and in major U.S. cities, MS-13 does not trade in vices such as drugs or guns. They simply remain violent in order to maintain their ability to put fear into their communities, explained Nashville’s U.S. Attorney Craig S. Morford.

The nature of MS-13’s violent means to no particular end came as a surprise to another federal prosecutor who also scored a blow against the gang.

Prince George’s County (Md.) Deputy District Attorney Laura J. Gwinn’s work against the MS-13 gang there got her deputized as a special assistant U.S. Attorney, and she and her colleagues recently celebrated a federal conviction of two local MS-13 members on racketeering and murder conspiracy charges that could land the two in prison for life.

“In this area we have not seen the selling of drugs as a goal of the gang, although we have prosecuted individually a couple of people for drugs who happen to be in the gang,” Gwinn said.

Gwinn also described the difficulties in bringing a case against MS-13; challenges that Nashville authorities are encountering as well.

“Part of the problem was the whole witness intimidation factor,” Gwinn said. “MS-13 is a ruthless, violent organization that will try to go after witnesses, so people are afraid to come in and testify.”

“No. 2, many of the victims of MS-13 are themselves involved in criminal activity,” she explained. “And then you have the issue of whether or not the victims are persons who are documented in the United States. Many of them believe that if they come forward they will be deported.”

That is an obstacle that Metro authorities are already negotiating.

“We want to try to stay on top of things, and improve our relationship with the Hispanic community so they’re comfortable calling us and providing us with information,” Chance said.

Chance described the time before a new set of indictments as “critical.”

“The pressure is on the department to not let up and to prevent the ground here from becoming fertile again,” he said.

That means, in addition to the larger MS-13 investigation, the police department will continue its zero-tolerance policy toward all gang activity, which it enforces largely through its “Operation Safer Streets” sweep and pressure program.

“If you’re out here spray painting, or you’re just trying to intimidate the public, whether it be teachers or business owners, by throwing up gang signs and warning that you’re not just messing with me but my whole gang, that’s what we’re trying to attack,” Chance said.

We need to send all gang members to Bush's family property. They all love illegals so they should be able to support them without taxpayer assistance.