Sessions lauds MS-13 arrests in El Salvador
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in El Salvador yesterday, congratulated that nation’s top prosecutor for criminally charging hundreds of members of MS-13 — the vicious international gang that authorities have linked to teen slayings in East Boston.
Sessions met in San Salvador with Salvadoran Attorney General Douglas Menendez yesterday.
Prosecutors in the Central American country charged 113 MS-13 gang members, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Another 593 gang members were charged Wednesday, including many MS-13 members, federal officials said.
“On February 9, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order on Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking to dismantle and eradicate transnational gangs threatening the safety of communities,” the statement said. “The investigation into this MS-13 clique is being handled by Salvadoran gang prosecutors who were trained and mentored by FBI and State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law advisors, Justice Department embedded Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT) prosecutors.”
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles, but has strong ties to El Salvador.
The gang, which has widespread influence in the United States, including in East Boston, Chelsea and other parts of Greater Boston, is known for killing rivals with knives and machetes.
Five Hispanic teens were found slain in East Boston between September 2015 and December 2016.
Three of those cases have been linked by authorities to the escalating feud between rivals MS-13 and 18th Street gangs.
Earlier this month, Jorge Melgar Fuentes, 19, was arraigned for the December 2016 murder of Carlos Villatoro-Nunez.
The 16-year-old boy’s body was found partially decomposed Dec. 9 at the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation.
An official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, has said Melgar is in the country illegally and is an MS-13 member.