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TARGETING STREET GANGS In Their Birthplaces Overseas |
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07/03/08 | ||||||
One of our major domestic crime challenges involves violent street gangs with global ties—in particular, MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang. Within the U.S., we join hands with our local, state, and federal partners to target these gangs. But another vital and relatively new player is our Legal Attaché office in San Salvador, which works closely with its counterparts in the Central American nations of El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras—the part of the world where MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang originated and still thrive.
The San Salvador Legal Attaché, which became fully operational in January 2007 and is one of more than 60 Legal Attachés where our agents work as diplomatic liaisons in U.S. embassies, is headed by Special Agent Leo Navarette. He and his staff spend most of their time on gang-related issues—helping to apprehend and extradite gang fugitives; providing criminal histories and arrest warrant information on gang associates; and locating witnesses to testify at U.S. trials…all in close cooperation with our partners. The Legal Attaché is also involved in several initiatives that help overseas law enforcement and prosecutors get a better handle on gangs in their own countries, which helps diminish the violence and crime being exported to the U.S. by these gangs. For example:
The Legal Attaché has coordinated our involvement in a number of investigations led by our global partners, including the murder of American citizen Dorothy Ascoli in Guatemala, the slayings of three Salvadoran congressmen, and the killing of a former Guatemalan government advisor. The office also coordinates our role at the International Law Enforcement Academy in San Salvador, where we help provide training on gangs, crisis management, crime scene processing, and executive management. Of course, our San Salvador Legal Attaché strongly supports all of our investigative priorities. A few examples:
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