I don't agree with the one part about MS-13 as they have been in South Florida as people with ties to them were arrested back in Aug. 2003 in Dade County. One gang unit detective claims that they have been in Homestead since 2003 and claims: " MS-13 has increased in South Florida due to the rise in amount of illegal aliens from Central America." This is due to the agriculture in Homestead. This is from an article that was printed in the Miami Herald on Monday February 7, 2005. I wish I could somehow post the gang information I have from the police.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... -headlines


Feds join state, S. Fla. police agencies in fight against growing gangs

By Madeline Baró Diaz
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted April 13 2007, 12:21 PM EDT


The U.S. Attorney's Office has joined forces with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to form an anti-gang task force called the Violent Crimes Task Force.

The formation of the task force, which includes law enforcement agencies in the tri-county South Florida area, was announced Friday morning. An announcement also will be made in Palm Beach County this afternoon.


According to the U.S. Attorney's office, there has been an increase in homicides in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Murders in 2006 were up 40 percent in Miami-Dade County, 50 percent in Broward County and 26 percent in Palm Beach County compared with the year before. Shootouts, drive-by shootings and violent robberies by gangs are seen as key factors in the rise, which is occurring in many cities nationwide.

"Gangs don't stop at the county border," said U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta.

The task force was formed to coordinate on cases and share information. There are 15 federal prosecutors from the Southern District of Florida assigned to the task force: five from the Miami office, five from Fort Lauderdale, four from West Palm Beach and one from Fort Pierce.

Among the goals of the task force is to determine which cases can be prosecuted at the federal level. Some federal laws that could apply to gang crimes include laws that call for stiffer penalties for career criminals who use a gun in committing a crime and possession of guns by undocumented immigrants who are part of gangs.

Some armed robberies, such as those carried out by gangs in Broward County, could also be prosecuted at the federal level, Acosta said. Federal prosecutors also could charge gang members for organized crime, drug crimes, bank robberies, extortion, carjackings and other gang-related activity.

"Our goal is to put the most violent offenders away for a long time, and we will use whatever legal tools are best suited for that purpose," he said.

Acosta said the task force came together after a rash of violent killings in South Florida. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw were among local law enforcement officials who approached the U.S. Attorney's Office about teaming up, Acosta said.

Acosta pointed to the success of interagency operations such as Operation Lightning Bolt in Miami in 2005, which resulted in the arrests of about 60 members of a street gang running a drug operation. Most were charged federally. A similar operation in Hallandale Beach led to a drop in crime, Acosta said.

"Our efforts will target some of the most violent players, to take them off the streets en masse,"

Many of the gang-related homicides involve assault weapons. They are of particular concern, Acosta and other law enforcement officials said, because the high-powered weapons are designed to spray bullets, increasing the damage they cause and the chances of stray bullets hitting innocent bystanders.

Last year, 12 percent of Miami-Dade homicides involved assault weapons, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. In 2005, none of the homicides involved assault weapons.

Rundle said earlier this week that some of the advantages of trying a case in the federal system are that there are stronger bonds in the federal system, stronger witness protection and sometimes stiffer sentences. At the state level, there are sometimes stronger charges, such as murder, she said.

Acosta said national gangs such as MS-13, the Bloods and the Crips are beginning to have a presence in South Florida. The task force seeks to nip that gang activity in the bud, Acosta said.

"We don't need Bloods or Crips establishing a foothold in South Florida," Acosta said.

Acosta also said not all gangs have an established set of colors and a national affiliation. The fact that young people are part of the gangs does not make them any less dangerous, he said.

"These are really violent individuals," Acosta said. "They take territory, use violence to hold territory and commit violent crimes in that territory."