PUBLIC SAFETY
SITUATION:
- Park famous for the song – McArthur Park by Richard Harris.
- “Someone left the cake out in the rain”. Can LA take it anymore?
- Gang forces park residents to pay “tax” rather look over their shoulder.
- To MS-13, MacArthur Park is not just a territory but a source of revenue.
- Gang tries to collect a percentage of everything sold inside it: drugs, food, gambling, sex.
- Gang has even begun demanding rent from people living in the park.
- The gang typically doesn’t demand large sums of money.
- Those beholden to the gang’s authority are those least equipped to resist it.
SIGNIFICANCE:
- MS-13 born four decades ago in the neighborhoods surrounding MacArthur Park
- Thousands of Salvadorans settled after fleeing civil war in their homeland.
- Today MS-13 has cliques, or subsets, throughout the U.S. and Central America,
- MacArthur Park is still considered its “Mecca,”
BACKGROUND:
Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang.
Originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Rivals: 18th Street Gang, Latin Kings; Bloods; Norteños and affiliated gangs
SEZ:
“If I tax someone $10 a week, it’s a small amount” to the victim, said Lt. Michael Ling, who oversees Rampart gang officers.
“They’d rather pay the tax than have to look over their shoulder,” said Officer Daniel Cardenas,
SOURCES:
Attacks on transgender women expose MS-13 gang’s grip on MacArthur Park –https://www.facebook.com/latimes/posts/10159961600288010
MS-13: A Gang Profile – https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/ms-13-gang-profile
New murders and more MS-13 members added to sprawling case against gang’s clique – https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/new-murders-and-more-ms-13-members-added-to-sprawling-case-against-gang-clique
