ms 13

They've often been called the most dangerous gang in America.

MS-13 is a violent force in more than 33 states including Texas. And Houston is a hub for the group.

"Houston's biggest problem is geographic," said special agent Brian Ritchie of the FBI. "I mean we're a stopping point from the southwest border."

Ritchie is a gang unit supervisor working out of the Houston office of the FBI. He knows first hand what it's like to come face-to-face with MS 13.

Two-years-ago, he was part of an investigation that ended with a hail of gunfire. Two suspects died at the scene, while two others were taken by Life Flight to Hermann Hospital and at least one other was taken into custody.

The men were responsible for dozens of armed robberies he says.

"I make no apologies for that night because I think our community, which is why we come to work for everyday to try and make it a little bit safer for everybody," said Ritchie. "I feel like our community was a bit safer than week and the week after."

America's war against gangs took a back seat after 9-11, but now it is picking up again.

Check out what happened Friday in El Salvador, where the FBI announced a joint venture with that country to take on MS-13. The unique relationship is expected to produce great results.

"Not only for U.S. law enforcement, but Salvadoran law enforcement too," said Ritchie. "Because imagine the frustration here. It's triple-fold down there because of the number of gang members that they are up against.

11 News has learned that several FBI agents will be moving to El Salvador as part of this operation, collaborating on cases like the one on-going Albin Zelaya.

"I mean Albin Zelaya is a perfect example. He bounced back and forth (across the border) more than two times before we actually caught up with him," said Ritchie.

Zelaya was involved in a shootout in southeast Houston, fled south of the border where he allegedly decapitated his in-laws last Christmas Eve.

He came back here to Houston where he was eventually caught.
Editor's Note: The CNN Wire is a running log of the latest news from CNN World Headquarters, reported by CNN's correspondents and producers, and The CNN Wire editors. "Posted" times are Eastern Time.

Memphis police make fourth arrest in football player's death

(CNN) -- A fourth man was arrested Tuesday and was being charged with murder in the shooting death of University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford, Memphis police said.

Devin Jefferson, 21, planned the armed robbery of Bradford, 21, because he believed Bradford was carrying a large amount of cash, police said.

"He was the brain trust on this one, he was the one that got the information that Taylor had cash" said Sgt. Vince Higgins. "Taylor and Jefferson knew each other. They had a girlfriend in common so there was some history there."

Memphis Police Department Director Larry Godwin announced Monday that DaeShawn Tate, 21, Victor Trezevant, 21, and Courtney Washington, 22, had been charged with murder in perpetration of attempted aggravated robbery. (Posted 10:33 a.m.)

High court rejects appeal over German man mistakenly kidnapped by CIA

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A German citizen who says he was mistakenly kidnapped, detained and interrogated by the CIA, as part of a secret "extraordinary rendition" program for suspected terrorists, was denied a hearing before the Supreme Court. The justices rejected his appeal for review on Tuesday.

At issue was whether Khaled el-Masri's lawsuit against the government can proceed, or whether the Bush administration can block it under the "state secrets" privilege, in the name of preserving national security. The court gave no reason for its decision to deny the appeal.

El-Masri said he was abducted in Macedonia on New Year's Eve 2003, and taken to Afghanistan and a U.S..-run detention facility, against his will.

U.S. officials tell CNN the Bush administration has privately confirmed to Germany the man was captured by mistake, but have not publicly admitted the incident occurred. --From CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears (Posted 10:24 a.m.)

Feds say no matter how Americans heat their houses, it is going to cost them more

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- No matter how U.S. residents heat their houses, this year will cost them more than last, according to a government report Tuesday.

Hardest hit will be those who use oil heat. Due mostly to higher crude prices, nationwide-average oil heating bills are expected to be 22 percent higher this winter than last winter, according to the Energy Information Administration. About 7 percent of Americans heat their home with oil, mostly in the Northeast.

Natural gas users, accounting for over half of U.S. households, can expect to pay 10 percent more this winter. Propane users can expect to pay 16 percent more, while electricity users will see a 4 percent rise. About 30 percent of U.S. homes are heated with electricity while about 5 percent use propane.

In addition to higher fuel prices, EIA said this winter is projected to be 4 percent colder than last, which accounts for some of the rise in heating costs. (Posted 10:04 a.m.)

Two women in Baghdad killed by personnel in private security convoy

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- People traveling in a private security convoy Tuesday fired on a car in Baghdad, killing two Iraqi women, two Interior Ministry sources told CNN.

It is not yet known which security firm was involved in the incident, which comes during a period of intense scrutiny over the activities of private security contractors such as Blackwater USA, which guards U.S. diplomats.

Blackwater USA was not involved in the incident, a company spokeswoman said. The U.S. Embassy press office said only that "there is no embassy connection to the incident" and two State Department officials said the incident didn't involve a U.S. Embassy convoy.

One of the ministry officials described the firm as a "western private security company" and said the incident occurred at 2:30 p.m. in the Karrada district of central Baghdad.

Brig. Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, Interior Ministry spokesman, said the incident occurred around 2:45 p.m. Khalaf -- who said the two victims were Christians -- told CNN that 19 bullets hit the vehicle in which the women were traveling. --From CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Saad Abedine (Posted 9:23 a.m.)

Pakistani planes launch airstrike on embattled tribal region, killing 50; latest salvo in four days of clashes

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani air force planes swooped down on the country's troubled tribal region on the border of Afghanistan Tuesday, launching a blistering airstrike that left as many as 50 militants dead, Pakistan Army sources said.

The strike in the Miran Shah region was the latest salvo in intense fighting between Pakistani security forces and Taliban and al Qaeda militants that broke out Saturday, as the summer cease-fire crumbled even further.

Those battles -- in North Waziristan, part of the country's largely lawless tribal region -- killed up to 150 militants, as well as 50 government troops, an army spokesman said. Another 20 security forces have been wounded, and intelligence sources said 12 to 15 soldiers remain missing.

According to the army spokesman, the military operation, which was launched Sunday, will continue until peace is completely restored to North Waziristan. --From CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi (Posted 9:08 a.m.)

Bomb in Basque city wounds bodyguard

MADRID (CNN) -- A bomb wounded a security official in the northern Basque city of Bilbao on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry spokesman told CNN.

CNN partner network CNN+ described the explosive as a limpet bomb, which was attached beneath the car of a bodyguard for a local town councilman in Spain's troubled Basque region.

According to CNN+, the off-duty bodyguard was taken to a hospital with burns. Witnesses said the blast apparently occurred as the bodyguard, who was alone, was getting into his personal car. A witness told the network that the bodyguard began rolling around on the ground as he escaped the burning vehicle.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident. --From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman (Posted 9:04 a.m.)

Two women in Baghdad killed by personnel in private security convoy

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- People traveling in a private security convoy Tuesday opened fire on a car in Baghdad, killing two Iraqi women, two Interior Ministry sources told CNN. (Posted 9:03 a.m.)

OnStar announces service to stop car thieves

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors' OnStar division announced Tuesday that it is introducing a service that will put the brakes on car thieves.

The feature, to be offered in 2009 model cars, will allow call-center operators in Detroit to remotely cut off engine power in OnStar-equipped vehicles that are reported stolen - helping police in hot pursuit of thieves to collar perps.

"The Stolen Vehicle Slowdown service will allow our subscribers added peace of mind by possibly preventing their vehicle from being used as an instrument of harm if it happens to be stolen," said Chet Huber, OnStar president. --By CNNMoney.com's Peter Valdes-Dapena (Posted 8:35 a.m.)

Bombs near Sunni tribal leaders in northern Iraq kill 22, hurt 30; 16 killed in Baghdad violence

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Two suicide truck bombs detonated minutes apart Tuesday morning in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji, killing at least 22 people and wounding 30 -- a coordinated attack that police say targeted anti-insurgent Sunni tribal leaders.

Violence reverberated as well over the last 24 hours in Baghdad, where bombers killed 12 civilians and gunmen killed four; in neighboring Nineveh province, where gunmen assassinated a provincial police official; and in the Nineveh city of Mosul, where a coalition airstrike killed six insurgents.

The Baiji strikes, which happened at about 6:30 a.m., prompted police to impose curfews in the Salaheddin province town about 130 miles north of Baghdad.

The first bomb exploded at the home of Col. Saad al-Nufous, a tribal leader and the city's police chief. While he was unharmed, members of his family were among the casualties, police said.

The second attack was at the al-Rahim mosque, where several tribal leaders were praying, police said. An Interior Ministry official says this bomb targeted the Baiji head of the Salaheddin Awakening Council, a Sunni group that joined in the fight against the al Qaeda in Iraq insurgency. (Posted 7:20 a.m.)

Munitions plant blast kills 1, critically injures 1

ROME (CNN) -- An explosion and fire at a munitions factory in Colleferro, Italy, Tuesday morning killed at least one person and critically injured another, according to Italian police.

A warehouse used to store explosives was on fire after the explosion at the plant owned and operated by Simmel Difesa, a maker of ammunitions, rockets and missiles warheads, police said.

Colleferro is about 25 miles southeast of Rome. --Journalist Flavia Taggiasco in Rome contributed to this report.(Posted 7:08 a.m.)

Munitions plant blast kills 1, critically injures 1

ROME (CNN) -- An explosion and fire at a munitions factory in Colleferro, Italy Tuesday morning killed at least one person and critically injured another, according to Italian police.

A warehouse used to store explosives was on fire after the explosion at the plant owned and operated by Simmel Difesa, a maker of ammunitions, rockets and missiles warheads, police said.

Colleferro is about 25 miles southeast of Rome. --Journalist Flavia Taggiasco in Rome contributed to this report. (Posted 6:53 a.m.)

Myanmar creates post for liaison to Suu Kyi

(CNN) -- The government of Myanmar named its deputy minister for labor as its liaison officer with detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a statement released Monday said. In the post, U Aung Kyi will hold the title of minister of relations. The order was signed by Secretary of the Government of the Union of Myanmar Col. Thant Shin.

The move comes after last week's visit to Myanmar by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari after bloody clashes between pro-democracy demonstrators and government security forces. Gambari suggested the liaison position during meeting with ruling military junta leaders.

Myanmar state media has reported that 2,000 people were detained during the demonstrations and the crackdown against them -- under an emergency law imposed on Sept. 25 banning assembly of more than five people -- and that 700 of those people have been released.

According to Shin, the minister of relations post was created out of "respect" for Gambari's "recommendation and in view of smooth relations with ... Aung San Suu Kyi." Gambari will brief the U.N. Security Council on his trip to Myanmar in open session on Friday. (Posted 6:10 a.m.)

Intense fighting continues in Pakistani tribal area

Lahore, Pakistan (CNN) -- Three days of intense fighting near the Afghan border between Pakistani security forces and Taliban and al Qaeda militants has left up to 150 militants dead, along with about 50 government troops, an army spokesman said.

Another 20 security forces have been wounded, during the clashes that began on Saturday. According to intelligence sources 12 to 15 soldiers remain missing .

The fighting is taking place in North Waziristan, part of the country's largely lawless tribal region. According to the army spokesperson, the military operation, which was launched Sunday, will continue until peace is completely restored to North Waziristan.

The new push follows recent attacks on Pakistani security forces and a breakdown over the summer of a cease-fire between the Islamabad government and tribal leaders. U.S. intelligence officials say the cease-fire gave al Qaeda a new safe haven in the tribal region. --From CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi (Posted 3:27 a.m.)

Wreckage of missing skydiving plane found in Washington State

YAKIMA, Washington (CNN) -- Searchers have found the wreckage of an airplane that went missing Sunday night with 10 people on board south of Washington State's Mount Ranier, according to a Yakima County Sheriff's representative.

No signs of life were found and the bodies of at least seven of those on board were located, said Yakima Valley Emergency Management spokeswoman Lisa Truhlicka.

"Rescue teams are bivouacking at the site," Deputy Dan Cypher said. "At daybreak we will do a more thorough search."

The wreckage was found at 7:40 p.m. (10:40 p.m. ET) Monday in an area of steep terrain, among heavy timber and brush, just 200 yards from where the last radar signal from the plane was detected, Cypher said. The rough conditions and darkness have so far prevented a full search of the wreckage, he said. (Posted 2:50 a.m.)

ISAF soldier killed in Afghanistan

(CNN) -- An Australian soldier was killed Monday in southern Afghanistan in a roadside bomb attack, Australia's Department of Defence said on Tuesday. Another soldier was wounded in the incident.

The DoD identified the dead soldier as Trooper David Pearce, 41, who was serving with the Australian army's Brisbane-based 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment. He was serving with the Reconstruction Task Force when he died.

Australia is a non-NATO member of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. (Posted 12:55 a.m.)

Anti-gang crackdown nets more than 1,300 arrests

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Tuesday will announce the arrests of more than 1,300 suspected gang members and their associates, an ICE official told CNN.

During a three-month, nationwide crackdown, ICE agents worked with law enforcement counterparts in 20 cities in what one official described as a "summer surge."

The agency's continuing anti-gang initiative, which started in 2005, has resulted in arrests of more than 7,000 alleged members and their associates from more than 600 gangs, ICE said.

One of the gangs targeted by ICE has been MS-13, which is believed the fastest growing group in the United States as well as one of the most violent, the agency said. The FBI, which also has mounted efforts against MS-13, estimates it has about there 10,000 members in the country, along with tens of thousands of others in Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, where the gang originated in the late 1980s.
Media-Newswire.com) - GREENBELT, Md. --- Omar Vasquez, 29, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted at trial by a federal jury of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving murder, robbery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.

Vasquez and co-defendants Jose Hipolito Cruz Diaz, 28, of Lanham, Md. and Henry Zelaya, 22, were convicted on April 27, 2007 after a seven week trial. According to trial testimony, the defendants were MS-13 leaders who conspired from at least 2001 to April 2006 to operate an MS-13 enterprise in Prince George?s and Montgomery Counties. They operated through a pattern of racketeering activity which included five murders in Maryland and one in Virginia and the use of deadly weapons including firearms, baseball bats, machetes, bottles or knives. Also, the commission of numerous murders, attempted murders and assaults, assaults on an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, juvenile females and rival gang members, kidnapping, robbery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

U.S Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, ?Omar Vasquez will spend the rest of his life in prison because of his participation in MS-13's criminal activities. The RICO statute allows us to prosecute gang members in federal court for the activities of the criminal organization they chose to join." Special Agent in Charge Gregory K. Gant of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) stated, ?The successful prosecution and sentencing of Omar Vasquez demonstrates how our RAGE Task Force will not cease in our relentless pursuit to put violent gang members behind bars. We hope that with each passing year of Mr. Vasquez?s sentence, he ponders his decision in becoming a violent member of the MS-13 gang, and how this decision has now earned him a membership card to federal prison.

Witnesses testified that Vasquez was sent from El Salvador to operate all the cliques in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. On January 21, 2005, Vasquez in collaboration with Diaz, who was the leader of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchos Westside ( SLSW ) clique in Washington, D.C., and other MS-13 members drove to an apartment building in Fairfax, Virginia to look for rival gang members. Two MS-13 members shot at the crowd of youths sitting outside the building, murdering one juvenile male and injuring two other juveniles.

Trial testimony showed that Zelaya, leader of the MS-13 Teclas Locos Salvatruchos ( TLS ) clique, murdered Noel Gudiel, a rival gang member, on April 20, 2003 in Langley Park, Maryland. Zelaya and other MS-13 members sexually assaulted two juvenile females at a ?skipping party? on May 12, 2003. Zelaya and MS-13 member Walter Noel Barahona assaulted a rival gang member on October 21, 2003. While in prison, Zelaya wrote letters to the TLS clique and other MS-13 gang members in which he advised how the gang should operate while he was incarcerated. He incited the gang members to continue engaging in violent acts and discussed how the gang should handle the leadership of his clique while he was incarcerated, including instructing an MS-13 member to make contact with other MS-13 members in El Salvador. He advised Barahona that a victim of a prior act of violence had not yet identified Barahona as a perpetrator of the crime.

Henry Zelaya was sentenced to life in prison on July 30, 2007. Jose Hipolito Cruz was sentenced to 35 years in prison on August 13, 2007. Walter Noel Barahona, 22, of Hyattsville, Maryland pleaded guilty in April, 2007 to the racketeering conspiracy arising from his participation in a stabbing and assaults. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Barahona to 14 years in prison.

?This sentence shows that our community has the commitment to incarcerate hardened criminals. I applaud the efforts of our federal partners and look forward to eliminating the negative influence of MS-13 on our youth and on our community,? said Glenn F. Ivey, Prince George?s County State?s Attorney.

To date, this office has charged 47 gang members with various federal offenses, with 31 defendants charged in this Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ( RICO ) conspiracy case. Fifteen MS-13 gang members have been convicted thus far in this RICO conspiracy case. Edgar Alberto Ayala, 29, of Suitland, Maryland and Oscar Ramos Velasquez, 22, of Baltimore, were convicted at trial by a federal jury in November 2006 of the racketeering conspiracy. Velasquez was sentenced on July 23, 2007 to 37 years in prison and Ayala was sentenced to 35 years in prison on June 1, 2007. Ten defendants have pleaded guilty.

U.S Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, ?Omar Vasquez will spend the rest of his life in prison because of his participation in MS-13's criminal activities. The RICO statute allows us to prosecute gang members in federal court for the activities of the criminal organization they chose to join." Special Agent in Charge Gregory K. Gant of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) stated, ?The successful prosecution and sentencing of Omar Vasquez demonstrates how our RAGE Task Force will not cease in our relentless pursuit to put violent gang members behind bars. We hope that with each passing year of Mr. Vasquez?s sentence, he ponders his decision in becoming a violent member of the MS-13 gang, and how this decision has now earned him a membership card to federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the RAGE Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Prince George?s County Police Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Montgomery County Department of Police;the Howard County Police Department; the Maryland National Capital Park Police; the Maryland State Police; and the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department. Mr. Rosenstein thanked the Prince George?s County State?s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey, Montgomery County State?s Attorney John McCarthy, and Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth?s Attorney Robert F. Horan, Jr., for the assistance that they and their offices provided.

Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Trusty and Chan Park, and Trial Attorney David Jaffe, a prosecutor for the Justice Department?s Gang Squad, who prosecuted the case.
They have the reputation for chopping off rivals' fingers with machetes and killing suspected informants, including a pregnant 17-year-old.

Their tattoos often stretch across their faces, arms and chests, giving them away as Mara Salvatrucha's members.

The brutal gang intrigued filmmaker Alexandre Fuchs so much that he decided his first feature film would look at the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. "Hijos de la Guerra," meaning children of the war, takes viewers from gang-ridden areas of Los Angeles to Salvadoran communities on the U.S. East Coast and to jails in El Salvador.

"Hijos de la Guerra" is among the films featured this week during the Vistas Film Festival, a five-day international event in Dallas showcasing Latino-themed pictures. It is the first time the film will show in Texas, which has dealt with its share of MS-13 violence.

Fuchs examines what led Central American youngsters fleeing violence in their homelands to join the gang. How did a group of neighborhood cliques of Salvadorans in Los Angeles gain strength to become an international gang with tens of thousands of members?

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"You have to go back to the civil war to understand: Why was this society so violent?" Fuchs said.

El Salvador had been headed toward civil war since the 1970s, and when war finally erupted in the 1980s, it was brutally violent. By the time a 1992 peace treaty was signed, 75,000 Salvadorans had died and 7,000 had disappeared during 12 years of fighting.

Members of El Salvador's military were accused of torturing and murdering people as part of a death squad during the years of conflict. The war militarized children, tore apart families and turned many into hardened refugees who headed to the U.S.

Refugee kids tried to defend themselves from more established gangs in California during the 1980s, forming neighborhood cliques of seven to 15 people. Members would tattoo each member's name on their body, Fuchs said.

The gang has become known for some atrocious crimes.

Former gang member Brenda Paz was four months pregnant when she died of multiple stab wounds in 2003 after helping with a federal murder case. Two members of the MS-13 gang were convicted of killing her.

In Houston, authorities blamed the 2005 death of 18-month-old Aiden Naquin on MS-13 members. The toddler was strapped in his car seat when a man opened fire on a car driven by his father, Ernest Naquin. Authorities believe the father had sold Xanax to the wife of a gang member.

Once immigration authorities began deporting gang members, they took the MS-13 culture back to Central America. Gang members got into trouble in their home countries, which took a tough approach with them. Time spent in prison only toughened and galvanized the gang members.

"It essentially had the effect of radicalizing the group," Fuchs said. "It has become much larger, much stronger."

Since then, MS-13 members have been arrested while trying to slip into the United States through South Texas.

"There's a need for a complex solution," Fuchs said. "There's a responsibility in not just letting law enforcement lead the solution."