A federal grand jury has indicted 19 accused members of the MS-13 gang with federal racketeering charges for committing crimes including murder and kidnapping, court documents showed on Thursday.
Nine of the men were arrested on Thursday in simultaneous predawn raids mostly in Maryland by an ATF-led task force, according to a spokesman from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The other 10 accused members of the violent Central American-based MS-13 were already in custody, he said.
The indictment, unsealed on Thursday in a federal court in Maryland, charges the 19 men with conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise. It said part of the racketeering conspiracy included several murders, kidnapping and obstruction of justice by threatening witnesses.
"The defendants and other members and associates of MS-13 agreed that acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder, would be committed by members and associates of MS-13 against rival gang members and to impose discipline within MS-13 itself," the indictment said.
In explaining the racketeering conspiracy, the indictment cited a number of murders, attempted murders and kidnappings from 2003 through June 2005.
President George W. Bush has vowed to combat gangs and put his wife in charge of a $150 million project to help stamp out gangs and drugs among Americas youth.
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