Sessions: All bets are off in hunt for MS-13 street gang
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday promised an all-out assault on the brutal MS-13 street gang “just like we took Al Capone off the streets.”
Sessions said the gang’s members are suspected in a series of killings in New York City's suburbs and the U.S. “will use whatever laws we have” to get them off the street.
The new designation directs prosecutors to pursue all legal avenues, including racketeering, gun and tax laws, to target the gang, said Sessions, a Republican former U.S. senator from Alabama.
Sessions designated the gang with Central American ties as a "priority" for the Department of Justice's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which has historically focused on drug trafficking and money laundering. MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is generally known for extortion and violence rather than distributing and selling narcotics.
"They leave misery, devastation and death in their wake. They threaten entire governments. They must be and will be stopped," the attorney general said, while in Philadelphia.
The gang has become a prime target of President Trump's administration amid its broader crackdown on immigration.
Members of the gang are suspected of committing several high-profile killings in New York, Maryland and Virginia. The gang's violence drew the Republican president's attention after two teenage girls was beaten and hacked to death in a suspected gang attack on Long Island.
The girls were among 22 people believed to have been killed by the gang on Long Island since the start of 2016. Most of the people arrested in those killings were in the U.S. illegally, law enforcement officials have said.
After Trump took office, he directed federal law enforcement officials to focus resources on combating transnational gangs, including MS-13. But the new designation will allow officials to target MS-13 with a "renewed vigor and a sharpened focus," said Sessions, who flew to El Salvador in July, in part to learn more about how the gang's activities there affect crime in the U.S.
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s, then entrenched itself in Central America when its leaders were deported.
Making a street gang like MS-13 a priority marks a shift for the drug enforcement task force, said James Trusty, who headed the Department of Justice's organized crime and gang section before he left in January.
Some MS-13 cases have drug connections, but "you'd be hard-pressed to come up with evidence that MS-13 is part of a cartel," he said. "The most common aspect of MS-13 prosecutions has been murder and witness intimidation or retaliation, not drug trafficking."
The number of illegal immigrants vs total US population in the USA has been holding at 3.5% since 2009. It was out of control right up to 2009....Oh yeah thanks Obama.
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. – Jackie Robinson
The number of illegal immigrants vs total US population in the USA has been holding at 3.5% since 2009. It was out of control right up to 2009....Oh yeah thanks Obama.
I’m sure the Stienle’s, Shaws and thousands of other families are thanking oBUMa also ...
The number of illegal immigrants vs total US population in the USA has been holding at 3.5% since 2009. It was out of control right up to 2009....Oh yeah thanks Obama.
I’m sure the Stienle’s, Shaws and thousands of other families are thanking oBUMa also ...
Shows where your hearts at ... very sad ..
LOL you don't know what heart is bro.
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. – Jackie Robinson
California man arrested for reportedly letting his 11-year-old nephew be his designated driver
A man in southern California was arrested Sunday after allegedly allowing his 11-year-old nephew to drive his car while he was drunk and passed out in the passenger seat.
Police pulled the car over after noticing several traffic violations as well as the fact that a kid was driving, the Port Hueneme Police Department said in a statement on Facebook.
The car reportedly pulled over, ending up slightly off the road, and police discovered the driver was an 11-year-old boy. During the traffic stop, police said they received calls from people reporting a child “driving a vehicle with a male front passenger slumped in the seat.”
“The kid obviously did not know how to drive a car. He was making traffic violations, weaving, the speed was erratic," Sgt. Christopher Graham of the Port Hueneme police told KTLA.
The man in the passenger seat was Genoro Lopez, 29, who the boy said was his uncle, the statement said. Police said the boy initially claimed his uncle was giving him a driving lesson but later admitted that he was actually his uncle’s designated driver.
Inside the car, police reportedly found that the boy was propped up in the driver’s seat on a folded sweatshirt “to assist him in reaching the pedals and seeing over the steering wheel.” Lopez was also seen with open alcohol and appeared to be drunk, police said.
When Lopez got out of the car, authorities reportedly saw a firearm between the seat and the door. It was eventually found to be fake.
DRUNKEN TOURIST CAN’T RECALL ATTACK DURING ZOMBIE BIKE RIDE
Lopez was arrested on the spot, police said. The boy was released to his mother.
According to the statement, the man admitted to police that his nephew was driving him around because he feared being arrested for drunk driving. Police also discovered that Lopez had a warrant for being an unlicensed driver and he had used methamphetamine earlier in the day while his nephew was in his care.
Police charged Lopez with felony child endangerment, the outstanding misdemeanor warrant, and for having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle, the statement said. The suspect was also reported to have previously been arrested for drunk driving in California.
Lopez was reportedly put in jail on a $50,000 bond.
I don’t understand what this has to do with a wall.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Drunk driving recently affected me in a personal way. A really good hockey buddy of mine was killed by a drunk driver after heading home from one of our games. He was dead less than an hour after I saw him leave. The guy who was arrested and charged had previous DUIs, and had a Hispanic-sounding last name.
Still has nothing to do with the wall.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Drunk driving recently affected me in a personal way. A really good hockey buddy of mine was killed by a drunk driver after heading home from one of our games. He was dead less than an hour after I saw him leave. The guy who was arrested and charged had previous DUIs, and had a Hispanic-sounding last name.
Still has nothing to do with the wall.
If he was here illegally it sure as all hell does ...
Drunk driving recently affected me in a personal way. A really good hockey buddy of mine was killed by a drunk driver after heading home from one of our games. He was dead less than an hour after I saw him leave. The guy who was arrested and charged had previous DUIs, and had a Hispanic-sounding last name.
Still has nothing to do with the wall.
If he was here illegally it sure as all hell does ...
Drunk driving is drunk driving. From what I've read/heard, that loser is not an illegal alien... but for the sake of debate let's pretend he is. Him being here illegally wasn't the reason why he killed my buddy. Driving drunk did. I know you'll say, "but if the wall was up, he wouldn't be here and your buddy would still be alive". That might be true. It also might be true that the white guy that was blasted just down the road would've got him. A drunk driver killed my buddy... beyond that it's irrelevant. If illegal aliens somehow had the market cornered on getting DWIs and stuff, then I could understand your argument.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
I didn't take your comment as insensitive at all, so no worries, Diam. I'm usually a very pragmatic and logical person, but that loss was pretty sudden and it really hurt.
I only brought it up because I felt it was pertinent to the discussion here. I wasn't really looking for sympathy or condolences, but that is still much appreciated. You guys are a really good bunch... when you want to be... :-p
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
