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Machete Attack On Teen Tied to
Virginia Gang Rivalry
By Tom Jackman and Ian Shapira
May 12, 2004
The attack on a 16-year-old Fairfax County youth whose hands were mutilated
with a machete was an act of revenge in an ongoing dispute between the two
largest gangs in Northern Virginia, police said yesterday.
The victim, who is recovering from his wounds at Inova Fairfax Hospital, had
tattoos on his hands indicating that he was a member of the South Side
Locos, a relatively new gang in Fairfax that has grown quickly in the last
two years. Investigators said they believe that the assailants were members
of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, the dominant street gang in Northern
Virginia, which has been linked to numerous slayings and assaults in recent
years.
"This was an assault that was in retaliation for a previous assault, which
was in retaliation for a previous assault, and so on," said Sgt. Greg Smith
of the Fairfax police gang unit. "This has been an ongoing thing since SSL
[South Side Locos] came into existence. In the big picture, with what's gone
on with MS and SSL over the last two years, this is just another day in the
office."
No suspects were in custody yesterday, although police said they were
pursuing promising leads.
Monday's attack is part of a growing gang problem in Northern Virginia that
law enforcement officers have been struggling to contain for about four
years. But gang membership continues to soar, and police estimate that there
are 2,500 members in the area, holding them responsible for rapes, beatings,
stabbings and the killing of a witness in a federal murder investigation. A
regional gang task force, formed in Herndon last summer, made 36 felony
arrests in its first 90 days, according to the Loudoun County sheriff's
office.
"It will probably get worse before it gets better," Loudoun Sheriff Stephen
O. Simpson. "We have been saying all along these are not the homegrown
groups like you used to see. If left alone, it has the potential to get out
of control."
Police said the South Side Locos now have about 400 members in the Fairfax
area, recruited in a little more than two years. Smith said the gang was
organized in the area by a disgruntled former Mara Salvatrucha member whose
uncle was killed by another MS-13 member in Arlington. Mara Salvatrucha
startedin Los Angeles in a community of immigrants from El Salvador.
"They are organized," Smith said of the South Side Locos, though not to the
extent of MS-13, which is estimated to have 1,0 to 1,500 members in the
area. "This is not just 400 guys loosely running around Fairfax County. They
do have meetings. They have gotten so large that we're hearing they're
breaking into [smaller units], like MS."
About 1 a.m. Monday, the 16-year-old was attacked by several people as he
walked in the 6400 block of Edsall Road in the Alexandria area of Fairfax.
Yesterday, police said that neither of the boy's hands was severed, contrary
to their original report.
The boy's left hand was slashed through the knuckles, and only his thumb
could be saved, according to his surgeon, Khalique S. Zahir. The teenager's
right hand was nearly severed, but Zahir said he reattached the thumb and
three fingers by reconstructing the bones, blood vessels and tendons.
Zahir, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, operated on the teenager for
about 71/2 hours Monday. He said the teenager is recovering well despite the
enormous blood loss and the severity of the injuries. Zahir said that he has
treated other victims of gang-related machete attacks but that Monday's was
among the most brutal.
"It's a very horrible thing," Zahir said. "The people who did this did it
not for him to die, they did if for him to suffer, and that's evil."
Officer Bud Walker, a Fairfax police spokesman, said the victim suffered
cuts to his upper body in addition to the hand wounds. Walker said the hand
injuries could have been received as the teenager defended himself.
Smith said that the hands of victims had been severed or sliced by machetes
in other gang attacks but that the intent was not to wound the hands
specifically. "In this particular case, I can't tell you" if the victim's
hands were targeted. "Was it deliberate? I kind of think not."
The 16-year-old was a quiet and unassuming student who sported gang tattoos
and colors at Richard Milburn High School, an alternative school of about 55
students near Alexandria, according to teachers.
The teenager is known for wearing a red or blue bandanna, which he was
required to remove during class, and for having the South Side Locos gang
symbols imprinted on the knuckles of one hand.
Deborah C. Brown, the school's director, said that about a month ago, the
teenager came to her with a gang-related problem. He told her that he could
no longer share his taxi ride to school with another student because he had
discovered that the student was a member of a rival gang. Brown said she
fixed the problem by arranging for another taxi to shuttle him to school.
Brown said she did not urge him to abandon his gang activities, because "I
knew that his mother and a probation officer were talking to him about it.
You don't want too many cooks in the kitchen."
The school's security chief, Leroy Washington, said the boy did not have
disciplinary problems and was very reserved, often pretending not to
understand English when he really did. "He would play the 'I Can't Speak
English' game, but he spoke good English when he wanted to," Washington
said. "He would doodle on his folder a lot, a knife or their gang symbols."
Smith said the name South Side Locos has its origins in Southern California,
where it is an established street gang, also formed by a disaffected former
MS member. Similarly named gangs have sprung up in cities across the
west,but Smith said, "We believe that our SSL guys are pretty much
homegrown." He also said the Northern Virginia version is multiracial, not
just restricted to Latinos, and recruits relatively young members, mainly
high school- and even middle school-age males.
The gang has been involved in armed robberies, assaults and carjackings,
Smith said, including robberies of pizza deliverymen in the Mount Vernon
area. But SSL's main crime is graffiti. "This is part of making their mark,"
Smith said.
Police said most of SSL's violent crimes have been directed against MS-13.
"They have been assaulting one another ever since [SSL] was formed," Smith
said.
"For the longest time," Smith continued, "MS treated these guys like the
annoying mosquito in the room," partly because of the younger membership.
"But SSL kept ratcheting up the attacks. MS has finally answered,
obviously."
Smith added: "SSL will retaliate."
In another case, an SSL member was killed last month in a shooting outside a
Days Inn motel along Route 1, allegedly by members of a gang called La
Primera. Smith said SSL probably would retaliate for that incident, too.
"They've got a couple of things on their plate," Smith said of the gang.
Staff writers Maria Glod and Elaine Rivera and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt
contributed to this report.
SOURCE:
The Washington Post Company
Related Articles: (Reprints below are
from the February 2003 IFA First Friday Newsletter Page 2)
YOUTH INTERCEDING FOR
AMERICA
Gang Activity Intensifies
Across America
Gary Bergel
W ith law enforcement now needing to focus on terrorism, drug and
street gang-related bloodshed on America’s streets is rising to levels not seen
since the mid-1990s, when the crack epidemic was still raging, authorities say.
Violent street gangs are now operating in at least 95 percent of all medium and
large-sized cities. Small cities and towns of 25,000 and less are now also
reporting gang activity.
Patterns of family migration have brought gangs and drug networks into
America’s heartland and into rural farm areas. When a young gang member moves
from a large city into a small town, he is often "revered in that community."
"He has instant credibility, and boom, you have an instant gang," says Arizona
State Gang Task Force commander David Gonzales. Gang-related violence erupted
recently near the offices of Intercessors for America in rural northern
Virginia. This migration and spread of gangs is being termed a new "social
phenomenon."
The Los Angeles Police Department reported 660 homicides by the close of
2002, a 10% increase over the previous year. At least half were gang-related. LA
Mayor James Hahn and Police Chief William Bratton declared "war" on LA gangs in
early December. Bratton, a former New York Chief of Police, said "The Mafia
crime families were no more intimidating or impactful than the gangs of Los
Angeles." "If we don’t deal with them effectively in large Metropolitan areas
like Los Angeles, the disease that these gangs represent will spread across this
country," he declared.
Observers say that while homicides in some major cities, including
Philadelphia, New York and Miami, saw little change or even slight declines,
they see a new cycle of gang intensity, violence and bloodshed beginning. They
hope it will not reach the peaks seen during the crack trading in the early
1990s. Connections between global drug trafficking and terrorist networks are
beginning to be exposed and, somehow, must be dealt with.
Some of the resurgence and growth of gangs is being attributed to cities
cutting back on police gang units when homicide rates fell, some gang members
who have gotten out of prison, and a surge of drug use among affluent youth. The
Internet, cell phones, and pagers are helping drug gang members more easily
network and deal.
Homeland Security needs and depleted state budgets could curtail the
surveillance and curbing needed at this critical time. And, one million or more
gang members spread across the U.S., some as young as six years old and living
in morally impoverished conditions, need to be reached with the love and
saving/transforming message and grace of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray…
Some helpful websites...
www.gang-busters.com
Contains a wealth of detailed research on almost 60 street,
ethnic, prison and white supremist gangs and gang culture.
www.gangsorus.com
Contains 800 external links to provide officials, parents and
teachers knowledge to know if gangs are in their community.
www.streetgangs.com
Monitors the ongoing "war on gangs" in Los Angeles; contains
news articles on gang activity across America.
www.doitnow.org
DoItNow Foundation provides information on drugs, alcohol,
sexuality, gang and other behavioral health topics. Excellent brochure to
download by Jim Parker, "Street Gangs: The View from the Street."
www.gangstyle.com
Help and support for both current and former gang members from
an increasingly, but not exclusively, Christian perspective. Raw language; the
"life stories" are insightful and prompt deep intercession.
Gangs
An
Introduction
Street gangs are not a new phenomenon. They exist in every country in one
form or another. In initial stages, members bond
together for identification, affirmation and self defense. New gang members are
generally young and impulsive, striking out at different elements of society in
wanton fashion. Street gang members share a general outlook on life which
includes loyalty to other members and portraying a callous and ruthless
image—one that can be enhanced by violence, drive-by shooting, robberies or
other crimes.
The more violent and dangerous a particular gang member is perceived to be,
the more respect he is accorded by both fellow and rival gang members. Some
members develop a sociopathic mentality that differs radically from other types
of juvenile offenders. Most criminally active youth are between the ages of 14
and 25, and most gang members are usually between the age of 9 and 25. Some
members may be in their 30’s or older, and may "control" the younger.
ORIGINAL GANGSTERS:
Also known as "OG’s", these members are in
the upper echelon of gang command. They tend to remain apart from the day-to-day
gang activities, with many running legitimate businesses as fronts for their
gang involvement.
GANGSTERS:
The gangster or "G’s" are the backbone of the street
gang. They are usually younger than the original gangster’s, 14-17 years old,
and generally represent rank and file street gang membership.
PEE WEES:
Also called "Baby Gangsters", they are usually 9-13
years old and are used by senior gang members for menial tasks like serving as
runners, sentries or writing graffiti.
TINY GANGSTER:
also called "TG’s" are the youngest member of gangs,
usually between the ages of six and nine. They primarily carry out very menial
tasks for older gang members.
GANG COMMUNICATIONS: U.S. street gangs place a major emphasis on
communications. Many have developed intricate communications methods—apparel
worn in a specific manner and "colors," graphic symbols, tattoos and graffiti,
often unintelligible to the non-gang member. Gang members often communicate by
means of "placas," a form of nonverbal communication. Hand signs (flashing) and
graffiti show affiliation and can give notice of an impending shooting. Street
gangs are territorial and identify their territory by spray painting graffiti
and symbols on walls, usually in the predominant color of the gang. Degradation
of a gang’s symbol is an extreme insult, and can trigger warring and murder.
A potentially deadly tactic for attacking rival gang members is the drive-by
shooting—gang members using pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, or fully
automatic weapons fire on targets from moving vehicles. Many of the homicides
resulting from drive-by shootings have involved innocent bystanders.
Excerpted from
www.gang-busters.com
SOURCE:
February 2003 IFA First Friday Newsletter Page 2
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