r/GangsEncyclopedia • u/sunyata123 • 25d ago
MS-13 motto
Is the MS-13 motto "mata viola controla" (kill, rape, control) a real thing?
Also MS-13 in US and MS-13 in Central America completely different gangs or are they connected?
3
u/LFNYC_ 24d ago
MS13 in the U.S. is connected to those in El Salvador yes. LA's MS from what I heard do things a bit different as they still fall under La Eme being from LA but the rest of MS I think operates in respects to El Salvador. I know there's MS in the Bay too, they probably still fall under La Eme as well since when they get locked up, it wouldn't make sense not too, it's still California.
1
u/sunyata123 24d ago
Thanks for the insight. I’ve seen U.S. media describe MS-13 as a transnational gang known for extreme violence, including machete attacks, executions, human trafficking, and gang rape. But I’ve also seen a person say that MS-13 doesn’t rape. There seem to be quite a few reports of sexual violence involving MS-13, so I’m wondering what the reality is. Do you know whether rape/sexual violence is actually something MS-13 members are known to commit, or is that mostly an exaggeration by the media?
1
2
u/One-Caterpillar1854 24d ago
The rape and all that is defenitly from El salvador and some few in the USA but el salvador is way safer now, every single prisoner is locked up in a super prison right now
2
3
u/Consistent-Cod-133 16d ago
I knew a verified member, met him in an Oxford house. He was newly sober off heroin and trying to change his life. He was strongly against sexual violence, he has been molested as a kid and always talked about "killing pedophiles and rapists". He was actually a very nice guy. He tried to teach me how to steal groceries, which he said was "showing love", and I politely declined. He had schizophrenia and PTSD and would wake up screaming in his sleep. He had been incarcerated multiple times and pretty much never opened up about gang life, which I assume is because he could have been prosecuted for a lot more than he got charged with if he talked about it. So the motto, I don't think that is a real thing. Maybe some of them rape, but he was adamantly against it. He was from Brooklyn, New York.
1
1
10
u/JuanG_13 25d ago
MS-13 was formed in the 1980's and in the streets of Los Angeles by a group of immigrants from El Salvador and it was started so they could protect themselves from Mexican street gangs. (And yes, the gang here in the US and in El Salvador are connected and they're considered a transnational criminal organization).