SAN FRANCISCO — Federal agents arrested 29 people around the Bay Area in connection with a racketeering investigation targeting the infamous MS-13 street gang, authorities announced Thursday.
Indictments unsealed Thursday morning document a three-year undercover probe of the gang affiliates in Richmond and San Francisco, charging that alleged members at several levels of the criminal organization indulged in murder, the violent extortion of other criminals, drug and gun trafficking and other felonies.
Authorities raided more than 20 locations Wednesday in San Francisco, South San Francisco, western Contra Costa County and Reno, resulting in the arrest of nearly all 22 people named in the federal complaint brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Another seven suspects face state charges including drug and weapon trafficking and attempted exportation of stolen cars.
Fifteen of those sought already were incarcerated in connection with other offenses.
MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, began in Los Angeles' Salvadoran community and has since spread throughout the United States and Latin America. Salvadoran national police conducted searches in their country as part of Wednesday's raids.
"This is a very significant event," said U.S. Attorney Joe Russoniello, head of the Northern California office. "But it is only one part of our effort to bring back peace and solitude to some of the communities victimized by this horror."
Law enforcement officials, including San Francisco police Chief Heather Fong and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, took turns excoriating the MS-13 before television cameras at a news conference Thursday. Harris described the group as "one of the most violent street gangs San Francisco has had to deal with."
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials led the investigation, dubbed "Operation Devil Horns." Marcy Forman, ICE's director of investigations, said it represents her agency's largest enforcement action to date against MS-13.
"Make no mistake: Attacking and dismantling criminal organizations like MS-13 is one of ICE's highest priorities," Forman said.
The investigation initially focused on the gang's 20th Street clique in San Francisco, which police and prosecutors say committed several recent killings, including the June 22 shooting of Tony Bologna and his two sons in a mistaken-identity attack.
The 52-count indictment does not include mention of that case, but does incriminate defendants in a pair of July homicides in San Francisco. Other crimes listed in the indictment include delivering stolen vehicles to a fence, "taxing" street drug dealers and sellers of fraudulent immigration documents, and numerous beatings, robberies, stabbings and shootings.
Suspects include U.S. citizens and both legal and undocumented immigrants. Another 11 gang suspects arrested during the raids were detained for administrative deportation, Russoniello said.
Part of the undercover operation involved a Richmond warehouse where law enforcement posing as crooked car exporters bought 16 vehicles they say were stolen by MS-13 members and their associates. Undercover agents also bought several firearms from one suspect in 2006 and 2007.
During the investigation, authorities confiscated more than 20 weapons, including three assault rifles, two machine pistols and three shotguns, one of which included a high-capacity magazine drum.
Before this week's arrests, 17 suspects were arrested in connection with the investigation on charges ranging from firearm violations to re-entry after deportation, according to a written statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Some of those suspects were named in the indictment unsealed Thursday, Russoniello said.
