Sessions vows to eradicate MS-13 gang

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday came to the Long Island area of Islip besieged by the transnational gang known as MS-13, and in a 20-minute speech to local police commissioners and sheriffs he vowed to eradicate the gang by, above all, cracking down on illegal immigration.

He likened the gang, which has links to El Salvador, to the Colombian cartel and the mafia, and said that it smuggled gang members across the border and recruited young immigrants.

His message was a familiar one, and it bore the blessing of President Donald Trump, who Sessions said was aware of the violence affecting Suffolk County, where the bodies of four young men were found murdered in a Central Islip park on April 13. Authorities believe the killings were linked to MS-13, which would bring the gang’s body count to 15 in Suffolk County since the beginning of 2016, the most violent to date since MS-13 took hold here in the late 1990s.

“The MS-13 motto is kill, rape and control,” Sessions said. “Our motto is justice for victims and consequences for criminals. That’s how simple it is.”