Oct 18, 2018 08:54 PM
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/cri...51335.html
EXCERPT: Despite its international reputation for hacking up victims with machetes – sometimes brazenly leaving the bloodied, mangled corpses in the open – the street gang MS-13 slipped into Mendota relatively unnoticed. Few people outside the rural town in California’s Central Valley knew MS-13 had infiltrated the area at least a decade ago. MS-13 carved out a reign of terror resulting in at least 14 brutal murders in and around Mendota from 2015 to 2017. There was little or no media coverage on some of the murders, some of which had been initially labeled as suspicious deaths.
Arrests in the string of murders were absent, except in two killings. The gang is also known for extortion, kidnapping and drug trafficking, among a deluge of crimes. That’s kept nearly everyone quiet, including city leaders, who failed to sound the alarm, say residents, victims’ relatives and former city elected officials.
Since an August operation led by federal and local agents that netted 25 alleged MS-13 members, more details about the gang’s local operations have come to light, through court records and dozens of interviews with cops and affected residents. It paints a clearer picture of how ruthless MS-13 can be, and why Mendota residents still live in fear....
MORE: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/cri...51335.html
EXCERPT: Despite its international reputation for hacking up victims with machetes – sometimes brazenly leaving the bloodied, mangled corpses in the open – the street gang MS-13 slipped into Mendota relatively unnoticed. Few people outside the rural town in California’s Central Valley knew MS-13 had infiltrated the area at least a decade ago. MS-13 carved out a reign of terror resulting in at least 14 brutal murders in and around Mendota from 2015 to 2017. There was little or no media coverage on some of the murders, some of which had been initially labeled as suspicious deaths.
Arrests in the string of murders were absent, except in two killings. The gang is also known for extortion, kidnapping and drug trafficking, among a deluge of crimes. That’s kept nearly everyone quiet, including city leaders, who failed to sound the alarm, say residents, victims’ relatives and former city elected officials.
Since an August operation led by federal and local agents that netted 25 alleged MS-13 members, more details about the gang’s local operations have come to light, through court records and dozens of interviews with cops and affected residents. It paints a clearer picture of how ruthless MS-13 can be, and why Mendota residents still live in fear....
MORE: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/cri...51335.html
