HomeNewsBriefEl Salvador's ‘Black Widows' and the Growing Sophistication of the MS13
BRIEF

El Salvador's ‘Black Widows' and the Growing Sophistication of the MS13

EL SALVADOR / 1 MAR 2017 BY TRISTAN CLAVEL EN

Authorities in El Salvador dismantled a MS13 network allegedly dedicated to forcing women into marriages before assassinating the husband to collect insurance money, a scheme that speaks to the gang's growing business sophistication.

Three women, who are allegedly members of a MS13 structure dubbed "Black Widows," were arrested on February 24 and given pre-trial detention on February 27, reported La Prensa Gráfica.

According to a February 24 press release by the Attorney General's Office, the suspects are facing charges of aggravated human trafficking, intent and conspiracy to commit first degree murder, aggravated fraud and criminal association. Five other suspects are still at large.

The case was built on testimony from two victims in 2014 and 2016. These women described how they were kidnapped in a house after accepting a job as a cleaning lady from members of the criminal structure. They were then forced into marrying a man, who himself was tricked into believing that the marriage would help them move to the United States. The network would convince the male victim into buying life insurance before eventually assassinating him. The widows were then forced to file paperwork so that the group could collect the insurance money.

Authorities were able to trace at least $60,000 from this scheme that ended up in the suspects' bank accounts. The Attorney General's Office said that this was the first dismantled MS13 structure of its kind, according to La Prensa Gráfica.

InSight Crime Analysis

The MS13's elaborate scheme involving life insurance payouts underscores how the gang is finding an increasing number of ways to generate income. Last November, the group was accused of profiting off selling contraband horse meat on the black market. And during a vast operation in 2016, authorities discovered the complexity of the gang's financial assets, which included motels, bars, brothels and car dealerships.

SEE ALSO: MS13 News and Profile

The MS13's expanding business portfolio carries important implications for the conflict it is waging against the Salvadoran government. The gang's growing revenue streams enable it to find news to put pressure on the authorities. For instance, last year's operation unearthed an MS13 plan to pool nationwide extortion money to fund the creation of an elite unit armed with high-powered rifles that were intended to be used in a frontal attack against state institutions.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 25 NOV 2022

Failing prison systems and entrenched corruption mean mega-prisons holding tens of thousands won't solve insecurity in Latin America.

EL SALVADOR / 15 JUN 2022

Flaca was devoted to the MS13. But after suffering violence, abuse and rape, she turned to the one escape open…

BOLIVIA / 23 SEP 2022

As world leaders met for the United Nations General Assembly, Latin American presidents expressed various concerns about organized crime.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…