by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP<\/span><\/p>\n Last week four young men were murdered on Long Island, brutally murdered with machetes.\u00a0 Rumors say their tongue were cut out and they were castrated.\u00a0 It is obvious some sociopathic pleasure was derived from their mutilation. \u00a0Could it be an initiation for a gang, an attempt to leave a gang, or perhaps some kids who denied an invitation to join a gang?\u00a0 It was a message killing.\u00a0 You see, it was the MO of a few of gang killings in the last year when they hacked up a couple of teenage girls with machetes one town over, so they figured it was the same gang.\u00a0 Long Island, home of the uppity Hamptons, the Gold Coast, the Great Gatsby and New York City\u2019s billionaires.\u00a0 And it is happening more than just on Long Island.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, MS-13 is everywhere and lately in the news.\u00a0 It is rumored that gang initiation means you must be beaten up by four or five gang members or you must brutally beat someone else, or kill them.\u00a0 For girls, it means you must allow yourself to be gang raped by at least six members.\u00a0 \u201cJumping in\u201d is what undergoing the initiation is called, but some gang members are spared the dramatic beat downs. \u00a0All must have someone in the gang recommend them, unless they don\u2019t.\u00a0 The rules are just not clear from group to group.\u00a0 Why would someone join such a gang?<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen articles that say MS-13 has 6,000 members nationwide and one that said 30,000 members nationwide.\u00a0 They started as a Spanish gang of Salvadorians that are used to living in a poor country in civil war.\u00a0 So, in LA they formed a group called Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). \u00a0Mara means group, or it can be a shortened version of the word for a brutal type of ants that work together.\u00a0 Salvatruncha is a type of streetwise kid that became a fighter in the civil wars, or it could mean \u201csalva\u201d for Salvadorian and truncha which means being alert.\u00a0 Yea, you got the idea, no one really know the meaning for sure.\u00a0 The 13 could come from \u201cM\u201d being the 13th<\/sup> letter of the alphabet, or that is the number symbol of the Mexican Mafia.\u00a0 Either way they are in 30 states in the US from its origin in Los Angeles in 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 Many experts have different interpretations of the name, the rules and the inner working of the organizations, the size.\u00a0 One thing is clear, if there is money to be made, people to intimidate, even kill, or drugs to be sold, MS-13 is around to carry out the task.\u00a0 The heavily tattooed members have some sort of Spanish origin, generally Central America, specifically from El Salvador at first (the world\u2019s most brutal country) but now include many Mexicans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguan members.\u00a0 One thing is clear, you don\u2019t leave MS-13 once you are in.\u00a0 It is a dangerous proposition to be near this gang.<\/span><\/p>\n MS-13 is getting a lot of press right now, but in reality, many in law enforcement have been saying this was a growing problem that better be handled for years.\u00a0 It is a loosely held group of organized crime networks that work independently, but together. There have been many ineffective ways to keep people from joining and breaking up the gang, but nothing has worked yet.\u00a0 It seems the ways being tried have not gotten to the root psychological causes of MS-13.\u00a0 The reasons behind their start-up is social psychological.<\/span><\/p>\n People join MS-13 because of poverty, failure in traditional education, the sense of family, the lack of functional family situations, the fear of the streets, getting respect, the fear of immigration, and the overall attitude of rebellion.\u00a0\u00a0 When people come from poverty like in Central America, it is a great relief to come to America or European countries and live a better lifestyle \u2013 for a time.\u00a0 But through the years, you start to resent others that have more and seemingly don\u2019t work as hard as you.\u00a0 Those kinds of attitudes build into motivators for finding a gang to help you out. \u00a0If you want money, take it from someone who has it.\u00a0 If they fight you, kill them or have other members of the gang kill them.\u00a0 Easy solution to the poverty problem, at least easy for the one giving out the punishment, not the one receiving the trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n Many of the kids start in schools that are not equipped to handle the number of Spanish speaking children.\u00a0 So they struggle for a couple years with the language, and then fall behind the other kids.\u00a0 Some catch up, but if their IQ is not as responsive, and they may stay behind their whole school career.\u00a0 Time to find a group that doesn\u2019t value education as much as other skills.\u00a0 Enter MS-13.<\/span><\/p>\n Many of these kids have no family situation at home.\u00a0 It may be a single parent home and a father that is absent.\u00a0 Or one or both of the parents are over-involved with alcohol, drugs or even just friends.\u00a0 Some get angry at the parent that abuses them when they ask simple questions that a child asks, or are annoying as all hell, as children sometimes get.\u00a0 There is a big difference between getting things you want and having your needs met, and getting nothing and not having your need met when you are a child.\u00a0 You look elsewhere and step into a \u201cjumping in\u201d situation.<\/span><\/p>\n Imagine being afraid to walk down the streets.\u00a0 On Long Island, some of those killed were 13-15-year-old girls, one was a mother and daughter.\u00a0 Across the country, kids are missing, maybe haven fallen to the machete of a gang banger.\u00a0 To say it is not safe in some neighborhoods after dark is an understatement, sometimes it is downright dangerous.\u00a0 Now if I have a group of people protecting me, and I have my face tattooed with MS-13 \u201ctats,\u201d not only am I safer, but I get some respect from people (really only their fear).<\/span><\/p>\n By the same token, it seems law enforcement and immigration to this point have sort of left members of the group alone.\u00a0 \u00a0And hey, how bad is it to spend time in prison anyway.\u00a0 Your gang family is there too and the facial tattoos really get you respect behind bars.\u00a0 The meals are regular and it is not like you are losing big opportunity outside.\u00a0 Deporting has never been a big issue in this country, and you can always come back.\u00a0 The thought process has no fears attached. The United States of America is a country built on the rebellion of immigrants.\u00a0 It was people freeing religious persecution that formed the core of our first immigrant settlers.\u00a0 It was new diseases the settlers brought with them and the brutality toward the native Americans that established the white, mostly European race of people here at that time.\u00a0 Others came later for opportunity, but at first they were rebelling.\u00a0 The current state of rebellion is scary to a more civilized populace, but it has occurred before.\u00a0 And as brutal as MS-13 is, I don\u2019t believe they want to take over the whole country as perhaps some of our ancestors were intent on.\u00a0 In the land of rebellion, we have a new rebellion, a new settler.<\/span><\/p>\n Scientific studies of MS-13 have been performed, and over 100 of them have dealt with membership.\u00a0 Fifty-two reasons were given for membership in the 118 studies this examiner could find, and all of the reasons are sociological or psychological.\u00a0 The process of changing these concerns with immigrant Central American people will also be social psychological.\u00a0 It will involve programs to alleviate some of the concerns above, as well as, enforcement of new and old rules in immigration.\u00a0 Because of the inherent dangers, police officers are going to be involved on both sides of this equation, enforcement and stopping the membership recruitment.\u00a0 We need to get more officers in the schools that MS-13 are in, in the prisons where they are housed, and on the streets doing intel, but that is a different article.\u00a0 This is an excellent way to get some federal and state funding for department programs in the current climate.\u00a0 I hope many of you see the way to write the grants that tackle this issue.\u00a0 And involve a street smart psychologist when you do.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Site Administrator:\u00a0 Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter (https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThinBlueMind<\/a>) for other articles and ideas, and YouTube at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCfjNw0510ipr3bX587IvAHg<\/a> .<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Psychology | MS-13 by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP Last week four young men were murdered on Long Island, brutally murdered with machetes.\u00a0 Rumors say their tongue were cut out and they were castrated.\u00a0 It is obvious some sociopathic pleasure was derived from their mutilation. \u00a0Could it be an initiation for a gang, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168884],"tags":[17168997,17168797,17168831],"class_list":["post-5807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motives","tag-gangs","tag-police-psychology","tag-police-stress"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6229,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=6229","url_meta":{"origin":5807,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology Interview: Intelligence and Counterintelligence","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"July 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology Interview: \u00a0Intelligence and Counterintelligence with James Turner, Ph.D. \u00a0 Some of the earliest use of psychology in operational policing\u00a0was by the military. \u00a0I remember reading stories of how B. F. Skinner invented a pigeon-controlled missile which were much more accurate than the guidance systems available at the time.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police psychology: counterintelligence","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/turner.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5773,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=5773","url_meta":{"origin":5807,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology | Opioids and Opiates","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Opioids and Opiates by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0 I live on Long Island, NY.\u00a0 Last year 493 people died on Long Island from opioid and opiate overdose with Fentanyl being the worse drug for deaths.\u00a0 That\u2019s more than were killed in car accidents in one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/medicine-bottle-md.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2612,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=2612","url_meta":{"origin":5807,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | Disabled Police Officer or Scammer?","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"May 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Disabled Police Officer or Scammer? Sgt, John R. \u00a0Ret. Deputy Sheriff \u00a0 What is a Disabled Police Officer? \u00a0I will tell you. He or she is \u201cLucky,\" \u201cA Scammer,\" \u201cFaking It,\u201d \u201cHas Hit The Jackpot,\u201d \u201c Malingering,\u201d \u201c Making it Worse Than it is,\u201d \u201cLazy,\u201d \u201cTrying to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":455,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=455","url_meta":{"origin":5807,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology | Officers Disproportionally Killing Black Men: Another False Narrative","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"June 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Officers Disproportionally Killing Black Men:\u00a0 Another False Narrative Guest Blogger Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., is an internationally renowned forensic criminologist and police expert directing the nation\u2019s only multidisciplinary Forensic Death Investigations and Independent Review Team at www.martinelliandassoc.com.\u00a0 His perspanl website is at www.drronmartinelli.com \u00a0 Among several prominent false\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"martinelli image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/martinelli-image-300x172.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=684","url_meta":{"origin":5807,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | The War on Police: “Officer-Directed Violence”","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | The War on Police: \u201cOfficer-Directed Violence\u201d Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., CMI-V, BCFT, CFA Let\u2019s see a show of hands. Every one of you who recognize these names raise em up. Michael Brown? Freddie Grey? OK. Now how about Darren Goforth, Steven Vincent, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu? No\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shannon Miles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Shannon-Miles.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":852,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=852","url_meta":{"origin":5807,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology | Selective Memory","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"November 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Selective Memory \u00a0 In police psychology, we need to have a pretty good understanding of memory in order to help cops deal with police stress. Have you ever been accused of having selective memory? Has your spouse ever asked you to do something that slips your mind,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Thoughts","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168878"},"img":{"alt_text":"memory dementia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/memory-dementia-300x235.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-1vF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5829,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5807\/revisions\/5829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n