The Monitor from McAllen, Texas • A14

The father-and-son arrests were part of a year-old Department of Homeland Security initiative called Community which has led to the arrest of 2,388 gang members nationwide. The gang members arrested in this federal sweep represent the most dangerous criminal threat in the United States today, officials say. Those arrested through that operation include members of the 18th Street Gang, Latin Kings, Big Time Killers and Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. MS-13, the most violent in the eyes of the federal government, has been held responsible for brutal retaliatory deaths in Los Angeles and the Washington, D.C., area. EW A PPROACH The Villarreals are the best example of the trend of street gangs that are becoming increasingly hard to combat because they operate on both sides of the border.

Most of the gang members are deported, but ones like the elder Villarreal, who are felons, are jailed in U.S. prisons. They face additional jail time if they illegally re-enter the country. These gangs have spread to the Valley and the Texas border, said Alonzo special agent-in-charge for the San Antonio Office of Investigations. The gangs in the Valley have begun to form alliances, said, or at least work in connection with the drug cartels in Mexico.

Currently, the U.S. Office and ICE are investigating reports of gang members in Laredo who are working as hit men in Nuevo Laredo, said. separate from the actual drug smuggling for the cartels in which many Valley gangs are already involved. Federal investigators believe the contract murders involving border gang members have contributed to the escalation of violence in Nuevo Laredo, he said. through ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda, would not give details about the case or with what gangs the suspects are affiliated.

Although those cases involve violence in Nuevo Laredo, where more than 100 people have been murdered in connection to the drug trade this year, there is already proof the same type of contract killing is happening here in the Valley. Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, a Valley gang member, told authorities before his capital murder trial in Edinburg last year that he carried out a murder for the La Mana drug cartel from Tamaulipas. Lopez was convicted. ALLEY ANGS While has gained a lot of attention nationwide, local officers question whether international gangs are the most pressing organized crime issue in the Valley. In fact, there seems to be next to no overlap in how federal and local authorities combat gangs.

Many officers in local departments point to gangs like the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate and Tri-City Bombers as the most dangerous. And they point to how the Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia prison gangs spawned from Valley gangs into larger organizations to illustrate how jailing of violent gang members does not deter criminal activity in the long term. For example, local gangs that were mostly involved in petty crimes 20 years ago have now grown into full-time criminal outfits smuggling drugs, carrying out hits and laundering money, according to Edinburg Detective Robert Alvarez, a veteran gang investigator. lot of the guys we arrested when they were 17 went to Alvarez said. I then had to arrest them for gang activity at When they do go to jail, they get deeper into gang life, he said.

not sure spending time going after international gangs will clean up the Valley. not a top priority for local officers, as it is for federal agencies, he says. Some critics cite the detention and removal policy, which DHS now advocates, as the very reason why these illegal alien gangs are growing into international threats. The most well-known example, they say, is Mara Salvatrucha also known as MS-13. The gang started in the 1980s with the influx of Salvadoran immigrants to Los Angeles.

Many of the MS-13 members were in fact here illegally and eventually deported back to El Salvador or other Central American countries, where over time the organization recruited more members and cemented their roots. Many of the current members in the United States have snuck back in since being deported. EFORM EEDED admits that a greater strategy aimed at eliminating the gangs must be developed; but, he said, ICE is only empowered to do so much. Because foreign countries are starting to crack down on these gangs, deporting them is a much more feasible option, he said. is much more effective to get them off the said.

are starting to see in their countries that their countries are aggressively pursuing Local officers are just as critical about the other option ICE is using: incarceration. Incarcerating these gang members in the United States will only help them spread, just like gangs native to the Valley spread in the late and early Alvarez said. Gangs in the Valley have evolved from ones with members who committed petty crimes in order to claim their to well-structured and disciplined gangs involved in violent crime and drugs, Alvarez said. Many of the gangs have tiered structures, similar to the military. not unlikely to see a group assign military ranks.

Alvarez, a former Hidalgo County detention officer, saw first-hand how gang bosses manipulated the jail system and were able to still communicate with their underlings as effectively as if they were on the outside. disband, especially if they get rooted in the prison he said. Andres R.Martinez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor can be reached at (956) 683-4434. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com 14A Sunday, June 25, 2006 Texas FROMPAGEONE A look at the astronauts who will be traveling with McHi graduate Michael Fossumon the space shuttle Discovery U.S. Air Force Col.

STEVE LINDSEY COMMANDER AGE 45 HOMETOWN Temple City, Calif. FAMILY children will be the last time I walk off the shuttle. But you be going on to something else and OK with U.S. Navy Cmdr. MARK KELLY PILOT AGE 42 HOMETOWN West Orange, N.J.

FAMILY daughters was well aware of the it makes it more real for me this time because of an accident that killed seven of my U.S. Navy Cmdr. LISA NOWAK MISSION SPECIALIST AGE 43 HOMETOWN Washington, D.C. FAMILY children never got to the point where I was or it my I was always happy with what was coming and what I was STEPHANIE WILSON MISSION SPECIALIST AGE 39 HOMETOWN FAMILY Unmarried the early shuttle days, they had to fly all rookies on some early they did PIERS SELLERS MISSION SPECIALIST AGE 51 HOMETOWN Crowborough, Kingdom FAMILY children goal is really to reset the program back to where it should be. If we manage to do that as an agency, then it will be a great European Space Agency THOMAS REITER ASTRONAUT AGE 48 HOMETOWN FAMILY sons every colleague I talk to has been infected by space.

When they come back it seems to be is the same for www.themonitor.com GANGS WITH TIES TO THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY LOCAL Balboas: Grafitti gang based in South McAllen, growing in popularity again after a decade of inactivity. boys: Based in Colonias south of Alamo. STATE Tri-City Bombers and Texas Chicano Brotherhood: Violent rivals whose ranks are swelling in prison; formed from splits of nationwide prison gangs like the Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia. Treces GANGS Texas Syndicate: Formed in Folsom Prison in the early 1970s, a bloody prison gang apparently in charge of many recent murderous activities in Dallas and other areas. In charge of multiple crime networks and well known for drug trafficking.

Surenos: Southern California spinoff of the Mexican Mafia, Sureno street gangs have been identified in every state and are involved in all facets of criminal activity. Mexican Mafia (La Eme): member prison gang formed in the 1950s by Chicano street gang members incarcerated at the Deuel Vocational Institution in California. By using violence, the Mexican Mafia eventually gained significant power and control over illegal activities in the California prison system. As members were released from state custody, they extended their influence outside the prison system to control drug distribution principally by drug dealers in parts of Southern California. Now the control of the Mexican Mafia extends into most of Texas and many other parts of the United States.

INTERNATIONAL Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13): 50,000 members strong, feds call them the most violent gang in the country. Formed in the early 1980s by Salvadoran refugees in Los Angeles, MS has business in hustling illegal immigrants over the border. Many members in America have been illegally smuggled into the country. MS also does business in narcotics, arms dealing, prostitution and This month, a report out of California confirmed that for a member to be sworn into the gang the member would have to assault or even kill a black female. Hermanos Pistoleros: Hispanic prison gang making a name for itself by drug running and contract killing for Mexican drug cartels.

18th Street Gang: Extremely violent but sophisticated gang formed in the late 1960s in Los Angeles. Close ties with Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, some members produce fraudulent Immigration and Naturalization IDs and food stamps. Latin Kings Big Time Killers Alexandre Associated Press A gang member speaks to journalists in a prison in San Jose Pinula, 12 miles east of Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Thursday. Three inmates died and six others were injured during a fight between rival gangs Mara Salvatrucha and Mara 18, police said. have to keep in mind that 20 percent of sexual assaults are ever said Karen Rugaard, communications and marketing director for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault.

Even fewer cases ever go to trial and fewer suspects are found guilty. reality, probably a much greater number (of sex she said. The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act in Sept. 2005 that would have prevented felons convicted of sexual assault, domestic violence and elder abuse from making petitions, but it was shot down by the Senate in conference.

often we hear heart- wrenching stories of how sex offenders prey upon their victims, particularly children, and wonder, could this said U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Indiana, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims. Hostettler ordered the report. am determined to examine every possible legislative remedy to ensure that our immigration system does not put women and children in way by allowing convicted sex offenders to file petitions to bring them to the United he said in a statement.

The study was ordered after congressmen learned about the problem through discussions with the Department of Homeland Security. Citizenship and Immigration Services) only began checking the background of petitioners against multiple criminal databases after in said committee spokesman Terry Shawn in an e-mail. that, (the agency) only checked the criminal history of beneficiaries. When they started (checking petitioners), they started getting against the national sex offender The national registry, available to the public online at www.nsopr.gov collects data on convicted sex offenders from most states, including Texas. The database contains information on 413,000 sex offenders guilty of crimes ranging from rape, indecent exposure and incest with both adults and children.

The GAO report reveals that most of the people the sex offenders were trying to bring to the United States were spouses and but the number of petitions for children could be underestimated. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service data only includes information on the primary beneficiary. For example, a petition filed for a the primary beneficiary, could also include her children, the derivative beneficiaries. So while only 33 petitions for children were filed, at least 60 unmarried children under 21 years of age could be affected.

Under the Violence Against Women Act, citizenship officials must disclose to beneficiaries if their petitioners has a criminal history, Shawn said. But there is a push within the House to change the law to make it illegal for sex offenders to have their family-based petitions accepted, he added. Allison Taylor, executive director for the Council on Sex Offender Treatment, see a blanket law banning a specific sect of criminals from having families as the answer. got to take a rational approach to sex she said. There is a difference between a 48-year-old pedophile and a 19- year-old boy who has sex with his 16-year-old consenting girlfriend, she said.

The data distinguish the sex offenders. Steps need to be taken to accurately identify the types of sex offenders the government is dealing with and assess their risk. never assume a sex offender is not she said, adding, sex offenders are not a homogenous Eighty to 90 percent of sexual abuse occurs within the family. Instead of looking at the problem with a purely punitive approach, laws should focus on proven prevention methods, Taylor said. not illegal for a sex offender to have a Rugaard said.

Cari Hammerstrom covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4424. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com IMMIGRATION continued from page 1A Sources: Knowgangs.com, wikipedia.org, staff reports Petitions filed by 398 sex offenders trying to bring significant others, children and other relatives into the U.S. Children petitioned for Percent of petitions for noncitizen relatives denied (with and pending as of December) Percent of petitions for approved (with and pending) BY THE NUMBERS 420 61 1 75 Source: Government Accountability Office GANGS continued from page 1A far-reaching effects. Among them: fewer people to turn to for help in crises such as Hurricane Katrina; fewer watchdogs to deter neighborhood crime; fewer visitors for hospital patients; and fewer participants in community groups.

The decline, which was greatest in estimates of the number of friends outside the family, also puts added pressure on spouses, families and counselors. are isolated in their own said Laurie Thorner, a therapist in Annapolis, since the 1980s. definitely agree that less support for Study co-author Lynn Smith- Lovin, a sociologist at Duke University in Durham, N.C., called the sharp declines startling, and added, usually expect major features of social life to change very much from year to year or even decade to One explanation for decline is that adults are working longer hours and socializing less. That includes women, who as homemakers tended to have strong community networks. In addition, commutes are longer, and TV viewing and computer use are up.

Another factor, Smith-Lovin admitted, may have been confusion among some of those polled on how to count email friendships. As connections to neighbors and social clubs decline, Smith- Lovin said, a social point of view it means got more people isolated in a small network of people who are just like She speculated that social isolation may have made Hurricane Katrina worse. people we saw sitting on roofs after Katrina hit were probably people without close ties to someone with a car to get them she said. right, said Bob Howard, spokesman for the American Red Hurricane Relief Project. that had friends and family were probably most likely to he said.

Even before Katrina, Red Cross volunteering an effort for which friends often are recruiters and in which friendships sustain membership was way off, spokeswoman Marietta Basel said. down from 1.3 million volunteers in 1996 to 820,000 last year. a time problem, accord- ing to Basel. have time to volunteer in a registered fashion and agree to volunteer number of hours a Robert Putnam, the author of Bowling Alone the 2000 bestseller on declining American civic life, said his more recent research generally tracked the findings of Smith-Lovin and Miller McPherson, a sociologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. would actually think that the trends have leveled off a little since 2000, but not reversed, said Putnam, who teaches public policy at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

LONELY continued from page 1A.