According to a report by Fox News, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has declared that the Justice Department is not in a reactive posture against the MS-13 street gang. Instead, Sessions says, the U.S. is going on the offensive to banish the notorious gang, “just like we took Al Capone off the streets.” The former Alabama Senator turned Attorney General said, we “will use whatever laws we have” to get them off the street.
To give teeth to his declaration, Sessions has directed prosecutors to pursue every legal option, including the enforcement of racketeering, gun and tax laws. Moreover, DoJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces has made MS-13—also known as La Mara Salvatrucha—a top priority.
Addressing the issue on a recent stop in Philadelphia, Sessions said of MS-13: “They leave misery, devastation, and death in their wake. They threaten entire governments. They must be and will be stopped.”
According to the Fox report, Ms-13 is suspected of committing several high-profile murders in New York, Maryland, and Virginia. The gang’s also allegedly beat and two teenage girls in Long Island, and then hacked them to death. The girls just two of the 22 victims DoJ believes to have been murdered on Long Island alone since January 2016.
With a motto of “kill, rape, control,” Sessions President said Ms-13 will be proactively pursued with “renewed vigor and a sharpened focus.”
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