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Operation Devil Horns: The Takedown of MS-13 in San Francisco by Ray Bolger, Michael Santini
xxstefaniereadsxx's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, is a well-known criminal entity that originated in California. The gang was formed in the 1970s and 1980s as a way to protect immigrants from Salvador. A lot of these immigrants came into the United States without proper documentation, and claimed asylum because of the civil war going on in their home country. Unfortunately, a lot of those claims went without acceptance, and, as a result, they faced a lot of racial discrimination from both the legal immigrants and the residents of the country. Over the years, gang members have evolved from a protection unit to a mainstream criminal organization. Deportation is common for members who are arrested for crimes, resulting in the spread of the gang to other countries. In fact, the gang is found all over the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Canada.
To become a member of MS-13, you are beaten for thirteen seconds by several people. Nearly all of the new members are minors, which is sad enough, but a lot of those are pressured into joining. A lot of the time, they are simply afraid to say no out of fear for their families. There have been several cases where entire families were executed in very violent ways because of something the gang did not like. This gang is extremely violent. They are known for vicious attacks on people for any number of reasons, especially those in rival gangs. They are also known for both femicide and infanticide, killing women and children of any age for whatever reason. This book touches on a lot of that brutality, but I did some supplemental internet research and it was staggering. I have a few other books on this topic in my wish list, and am looking forward to learning more about this.
This particular book focuses on Operation Devil Horns, a criminal investigation into MS-13 that lasted four years. This operation used two gang members, Edwin Ramos and Roberto Acosta, as inside informants to find out information about murders and other activities. The objective was to use RICO statues to dismantle the gang. While that was not successful in the long term, they were able to make over two dozen arrests. These two informants provided a deep look into the structure of the gang and the members, which helped law enforcement. Insider and personal accounts are always important to the historical narrative, but also to those of us who are just curious about things we do not know about.
This book is currently available on Audible Plus for those who are interested, but the physical copy is less than 300 pages. To be such a short book, it was packed with information about this gang. I am aware that there has been graffiti in my city that is attributed to MS-13, but I did not know a lot about the gang before reading this book. If you are looking to learn more information about MS-13, this is a good starting point. People become involved in gang activity for many different reasons, and it would be great if we could find ways to combat that without shouting from the rooftops that people from other countries should not be allowed into the United States, as though this country wasn't overtaken by Europeans to begin with. It's a two sided case in which the bad gets more publicity than the good, resulting in the negative impression of a certain demographic of people as a whole...and also just letting everyone know how some people feel about anyone who is not white. The whole situation is unfortunate for a lot of reasons. As far as this book goes, it was very informative about MS-13 and this operation to take them down.
To become a member of MS-13, you are beaten for thirteen seconds by several people. Nearly all of the new members are minors, which is sad enough, but a lot of those are pressured into joining. A lot of the time, they are simply afraid to say no out of fear for their families. There have been several cases where entire families were executed in very violent ways because of something the gang did not like. This gang is extremely violent. They are known for vicious attacks on people for any number of reasons, especially those in rival gangs. They are also known for both femicide and infanticide, killing women and children of any age for whatever reason. This book touches on a lot of that brutality, but I did some supplemental internet research and it was staggering. I have a few other books on this topic in my wish list, and am looking forward to learning more about this.
This particular book focuses on Operation Devil Horns, a criminal investigation into MS-13 that lasted four years. This operation used two gang members, Edwin Ramos and Roberto Acosta, as inside informants to find out information about murders and other activities. The objective was to use RICO statues to dismantle the gang. While that was not successful in the long term, they were able to make over two dozen arrests. These two informants provided a deep look into the structure of the gang and the members, which helped law enforcement. Insider and personal accounts are always important to the historical narrative, but also to those of us who are just curious about things we do not know about.
This book is currently available on Audible Plus for those who are interested, but the physical copy is less than 300 pages. To be such a short book, it was packed with information about this gang. I am aware that there has been graffiti in my city that is attributed to MS-13, but I did not know a lot about the gang before reading this book. If you are looking to learn more information about MS-13, this is a good starting point. People become involved in gang activity for many different reasons, and it would be great if we could find ways to combat that without shouting from the rooftops that people from other countries should not be allowed into the United States, as though this country wasn't overtaken by Europeans to begin with. It's a two sided case in which the bad gets more publicity than the good, resulting in the negative impression of a certain demographic of people as a whole...and also just letting everyone know how some people feel about anyone who is not white. The whole situation is unfortunate for a lot of reasons. As far as this book goes, it was very informative about MS-13 and this operation to take them down.
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