I'm sorry - read that wrong. Easy to read murder and drug trafficking for prayer and meditation. I'd love to get Nancy's thoughts on this one. Why are liberals on the wrong side of EVERYTHING?
More than two dozen MS-13 gang members and affiliates were arrested and charged following a monthslong murder and drug trafficking investigation centered on a rural California farm city that the gang turned into a base for its operations, U.S. and state prosecutors said Friday.
MS-13 took advantage of limited resources in the city of Mendota and used it and other areas of Fresno County to "conduct their crimes, to hide out from crimes that they committed in other jurisdictions and to prepare to commit crimes in states as far away as New York," Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said at a news conference in Fresno with state and federal officials.
Mendota has a population of roughly 11,000 people and lies 35 miles (60 kilometers) west of Fresno in California's agriculturally rich Central Valley. Nearly the entire population is Hispanic, with many immigrants from El Salvador.
MS-13 is linked to more than 12 murders in Mendota and western Fresno County over the past two years, said McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento. The federal charges announced Friday include allegations that two MS-13 gang members kidnapped and murdered a Fresno County man in December.
Scott said the investigation — dubbed "Blue Inferno" — uncovered evidence tying the gang to at least 30 murders and assaults in Mendota, Los Angles, Las Vegas, New York City and Houston. The evidence has prompted additional prosecutions in other cities, he said.
"This is a good day," he said. "An extremely violent street gang which has terrorized western Fresno County has been completely dismantled and several murders and violent crimes across the nation have been resolved in a resounding way," he said.
MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, was formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s by refugees from El Salvador and is linked to many slayings in certain parts of the U.S. In California, the gang has clashed with rival Nortenos gang members. It also targets its own members for violating gang rules.
Nortenos are a street gang connected to the Nuestra Familia, a prison gang that originally formed in the California state prison system in the 1960s, according to federal prosecutors.
President Donald Trump has singled out the MS-13 gang as a threat to the U.S. and blames weak border enforcement for the group's crimes. But many gang members were born in the U.S.
More than two dozen MS-13 gang members and affiliates were arrested and charged following a monthslong murder and drug trafficking investigation centered on a rural California farm city that the gang turned into a base for its operations, U.S. and state prosecutors said Friday.
MS-13 took advantage of limited resources in the city of Mendota and used it and other areas of Fresno County to "conduct their crimes, to hide out from crimes that they committed in other jurisdictions and to prepare to commit crimes in states as far away as New York," Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said at a news conference in Fresno with state and federal officials.
Mendota has a population of roughly 11,000 people and lies 35 miles (60 kilometers) west of Fresno in California's agriculturally rich Central Valley. Nearly the entire population is Hispanic, with many immigrants from El Salvador.
MS-13 is linked to more than 12 murders in Mendota and western Fresno County over the past two years, said McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento. The federal charges announced Friday include allegations that two MS-13 gang members kidnapped and murdered a Fresno County man in December.
Scott said the investigation — dubbed "Blue Inferno" — uncovered evidence tying the gang to at least 30 murders and assaults in Mendota, Los Angles, Las Vegas, New York City and Houston. The evidence has prompted additional prosecutions in other cities, he said.
"This is a good day," he said. "An extremely violent street gang which has terrorized western Fresno County has been completely dismantled and several murders and violent crimes across the nation have been resolved in a resounding way," he said.
MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, was formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s by refugees from El Salvador and is linked to many slayings in certain parts of the U.S. In California, the gang has clashed with rival Nortenos gang members. It also targets its own members for violating gang rules.
Nortenos are a street gang connected to the Nuestra Familia, a prison gang that originally formed in the California state prison system in the 1960s, according to federal prosecutors.
President Donald Trump has singled out the MS-13 gang as a threat to the U.S. and blames weak border enforcement for the group's crimes. But many gang members were born in the U.S.
