From a small band of deportees forcibly returned from Los Angeles, the MS13 has grown into a hydra. It is at once a social circle that provides protection and belonging, an extortion powerhouse shaking down the rich and the poor, a parallel government regulating the daily lives of thousands.
This investigation, carried out over several years and featuring interviews with some of the most influential MS13 leaders, looks at how this transformation took place in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and just how unstoppable the gang has become.
MS13 & Co.
EL SALVADOR
/
25 JAN 2022
Chapter 1
How the MS13 Became Lords of the Trash Dump in Honduras
HONDURAS
/
19 JAN 2022
Where Honduras ends, there are no borders, no guards, no gate post. This is where a nation vanishes with no fanfare.
Chapter 2
The Omnipresent Business of the MS13 in El Salvador
EL SALVADOR
/
25 JAN 2022
When strolling through Las Margaritas, a neighborhood of over 15,000 people in the city of Soyapango, El Salvador, crossing paths with the MS13 is all but assured. There, almost all…
Chapter 3
When the MS13 Played Possum in Guatemala
GUATEMALA
/
7 FEB 2022
In this run-down neighborhood in Guatemala City, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) does not exist. And yet, there are still a host of emeeses, as the gang's members are known.
Chapter 4
The Birth of the MS13's Mexico Program
EL SALVADOR
/
15 FEB 2022
On March 2, 2021, El Salvador police announced an unexpected arrest: that of Hugo Armando Quinteros Mineros, alias “Flaco.” His capture took authorities by surprise. For they believed Flaco was…
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