MS-13 First Gang To Be Designated 'Transnational Crime Organization'

10/12/2012 RTT News
Mara Salvatrucha, the Los Angeles-based street gang notorious for its subcultural moral code and violent acts of retribution, has become the first gang to be designated a "transnational crime organization" by the U.S. Treasury Department.

The gang, also known as MS-13, boasts around 8,000 members in the U.S. and over 30,000 worldwide, with the heaviest concentrations found in L.A., San Francisco and the Washington, DC/Maryland area.

The Treasury designation will allow the federal government to freeze assets of MS-13 members at will for the gang's involvement drug trafficking, kidnapping, human smuggling, sex trafficking, murder, assassinations, racketeering, blackmail, extortion, and immigration offenses. Read More