MS-13, shorthand for "Mara Salvatrucha," is one of the world's most lethal gangs, with a power and reach that exceeds that of some national governments
MS-13, shorthand for "Mara Salvatrucha," is one of the world's most lethal gangs, with a power and reach that exceeds that of some national governments. It has ravaged the tiny Central American country of El Salvador, and its influence extends into neighboring Honduras and elsewhere. But MS-13 isn't a homegrown Salvadoran phenomenon. It's an export from Los Angeles, where many gang members were initiated as adolescents and young adults, before being deported back to El Salvador and taking their violent methods with them. Today, as depicted in the new documentary "Gang Warfare USA," airing at 8 Monday night on the National Geographic Channel, MS-13 members in El Salvador work with their U.S. counterparts to export violence to cities as remote from L.A. as Greensboro, N.C. Marc Shaffer, the film's director, producer and writer, and his crew detail the disturbing story of how a restaurant murder in Greensboro eventually led investigators to L.A. and El ...