Movie Analysis: MS13

The Gang has a long history in dealing with many major crimes. Some of these include; weapons trafficking, dealing with narcotics and most importantly, Murder. In 2013, police have arrested 43 gang

“As a result, MS13’s Central American branches have been able to rebuild their organizational structures from the inside prisons walls, as well as expand their capacity to carry out crimes such as kidnappings, car robberies, extortion schemes, and other criminal activities” (MS13 Profile). It is said in marasalvatrucha.weebly.com that members of MS13 ages range from 11 to 40 years old. “Many members join the gang at a young age because they think it will help them look tougher and protect them from bullies” (Mara Salvatrucha). It also tells us that the fact that MS13 is known as one of the most dangerous gangs they join to make others scared. “Recruitment of younger initiates is encouraged from within the gang as well, as the younger a person is, the harder it is to punish them traditionally in the judicial system” (Mara

How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.

“ ...while the Socs had so much spare time and money that they jumped us and each other for kicks, had beer blasts and river bottom parties because they didn’t know what else to do” (Hinton 43). This shows that Greasers have problems with wealth and why they are in groups such as gangs. This also shows that they do not have anything what the Socs have as they come from poor families with parents that neglect them or they passed away. Moreover, in the article “The Allure of Gangs,” “Feelings of being caught in a trap in a hopeless situation, in a poor neighborhood with no way out…,” (para 7). This shows that kids in poverty are and why they join gangs.

The MS-13 gang, well known as Mara Salvatrucha 13, is one of the most organized and violently dangerous gangs in the United States. The gang was establishes in the 1980, in the predominately Spanish speaking parts of Los Angeles, initially starting off with refuges who were in nature calm and in control. However, some Mexican immigrants began their power guiding and controlling these individuals into an underworld organization, which quickly began to harden the individuals. Once this occurred in the El Salvadorian neighborhoods, the immigrants wanted to organize themselves, so they decided to come up with a name for themselves.

However, in cities where this is not the social scene, violence is active and occurring. Once violence is a part of someone’s daily life respect and family reputation become important (Matsuda, Melde, Taylor, Freng, & Esbensen, 2013). Gangs become a sense of security and a mindset of toughness and revenge become normal. In the social realm of gangs and violence, a community would create their own “Code” like Anderson talks about. They create their own rules, morals and expectations that are reinforced by gang group members (Matsuda et al. 2013).

Chicago Organized Crime in the 2000s When it comes to organized crime in the 2000s, Chicago has a storied past. The city has a long history of organized crime, and the 2000s are no exception. In fact, some of the most notorious crime bosses and criminal organizations in Chicago's history operated during this time. The city is home to a number of influential criminal organizations that engaged in everything from drug trafficking to extortion. This essay will discuss what is going on in Chicago, what the city/government is doing about the problem, whether the government has been corrupt, and how the people involved with organized crime have not been caught.

The Mexican Mafia also known as La Eme (Spanish for “the letter M”) or Trece (Spanish for the number “13”) is a Hispanic, Mexican / American criminal Organization that was formed in prison in 1957-Present day. The characteristics of this Gang is really Organized, they go by ranking structures they have their soldiers, caporegime , under boss, and the boss. They are many ways to extinguish them by their tattoos, the color green in clothing, the Mexican flag, the number 13, the Aztecas, or a letter “M”. You have to do jobs for them in order to get in or follow orders, or get beat by the gang to get in and if successful you will be in the gang and will “always be protected by them ”.

Their criminal activity includes: drug trafficking, money laundering, gambling, prostitution and bribery. Corporate blackmail is in their second nature. Being as though they make it their business to expose business owners to get what they want. They’re known to be a very dangerous organization. The members in the gang are tested before entering, as they must complete

“About 25 years ago, I started out as a reporter covering politics. And that sort of just evolved into organized crime, because organized crime and politics were the same thing in Boston. - Howie Carr”. The mafia is an iconic criminal organization that has spread its influence through American culture and politics for decades. A mafia can be thought of a gang that is organized enough to have it’s own disciplined procedures.

During his time studying these boys, he found that most cases of conflict were resolved without the use of weapon(s), but rather with “harsh conversation”. This observation highly contradicts the typical view of gang members who are commonly stereotyped by their local community and justice system in Oakland. Rios describes how the boys “Conversations often involved references to guns as analogies for resolving conflict and demonstrating manhood”. The fact that most conflicts are dealt with in non-violent ways, highlights the negative role

Early on, MS-13 was a loosely organized collection of smaller gangs that focused on extorting local businessmen and small-scale drug trafficking operations. Unfortunately for law enforcement, MS-13’s operations have expanded past extortion, homicide and drug trafficking. Sonja Wolf finds that, MS-13 engages in robbery, auto theft, rapes, kidnappings, and the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation,” and that, “Over time, gang members have been increasingly implicated in robberies, the illegal possession or carrying of firearms, drug sales, rapes, and especially extortions and homicides. Gang youth have moved from levying minor taxes in their territories to running extensive extortion rackets. Shopkeepers, sex workers, students and teachers, taxi and bus companies must all comply with the requests, though the transport sector is most heavily affected.

It was never meant to be the way it is today but it just happens that is the way that it panned out. The creator of MS-13 isn 't in the gang today because that is not why he started the gang so he wants no parts in it at all. When you watched the movie and saw how fast and how far the gang spread it makes you think. A good term for this is Demography, the scientific study of population size, composition, and distribution as well as patterns of change in those features. When you look at a map and see where Los Angeles is and then you look down to Mexico and south America it makes you wonder how the gang had the man power to spread there.

The array of neighborhoods in the center southern California holds nest to the notorious Crips and the Bloods. The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America starts with the generation before the blue and red covered the streets. Thorsten Sellin’s pioneering on conflict theory best describes the development of the gangs. There were two waves of cultural conflict that led up to the Bloods and Crips. The primary culture conflict derived in the 1950s, segregation defined norms that strictly separated blacks and whites.

Throughout the 17th-century gangs have been causing havoc in people's life and destroying the society. The National Institute of Justice (2011) has defined a gang as "A group of collective members which create an atmosphere of intimidation among citizens. " Many of these gangs are well organized, using different forms of violence to control neighbourhoods and to conduct their illegal activities. The National Gang Threat Assessment (2011) reports that “Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions.” Street Gangs have caused incidences of violence that is confined in the inner city of many countries.