MS-13 Fingerprints All Over Newark Executions

As police continue to hunt for more suspects in the Newark schoolyard slayings that left three college students dead, investigators struggle with one of the case's most provocative mysteries: rumored links to a notorious street gang called MS-13.

The gang, rooted in the 1980s Salvadoran civil war and dominated by Latino immigrants, is considered one of the country's most violent criminal groups. Although MS-13 doesn't have large numbers in Newark, residents of the Ivy Hill neighborhood where the killings took place say they've seen more young men enticed by the gang. That included five of the suspects in the Aug. 4 execution-style shootings.

Neighbors of three juvenile suspects say the boys claimed to be members of MS-13. At least two of them maintained MySpace pages that praised the gang. The adult suspects, Jose Carranza and Rodolfo Godinez, were active members, residents say.

Because of those reputed connections, investigators are exploring whether they played a role in the Aug. 4 attack, in which three college students died and a fourth survived a gunshot to the face.

In Essex County, where most gang violence comes at the hands of Crips, Bloods and Latin Kings, MS-13 -- also known as Mara Salvatrucha -- hasn't been much of a menace, authorities said.

MS-13 started in Los Angeles in the 1970s to protect Salvadoran immigrants from being preyed upon by other gangs, according to law enforcement experts. Los Angeles remains its base, along with strongholds in the Washington D.C. area.

As I've previously suggested, the triple murders may have been an initiation rite into the gang, whose violent history elsewhere in the US has been well documented, especially by Michelle Malkin.

This NYT report on the background of the suspects also suggests it was an initiation rite - that only one gun was used, and it was apparently passed between the thugs who fired on the helpless college students.

To date, the Newark authorities have offered no public portrait of the group they believe was responsible for the killings of Dashon Harvey, 20; Iofemi Hightower, 20; and Terrance Aeriel, 18. Their official statements have barely expanded beyond the simple, awful charges against the three already in custody: murder and robbery.

But one senior law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is at a critical stage, said that only one gun, a revolver, was used and that it was fired first by Mr. Carranza as he allegedly shot the only survivor, Natasha Aeriel, 19. One of the three suspects arrested so far, the official said, has told detectives that an 18-year-old who is still at large also fired the weapon.

Tom Moran thinks that the catch and release problem in Essex County (where Newark is situated) is a rich/poor thing. I disagree. It's a lack of prisons problem. If you don't have sufficient prison space for those who commit crimes, you end up with having to make deals that put public safety in jeopardy.

If Mayor Cory Booker (I) is truly serious about putting his foot down on crime in Newark, he better call for more prisons to handle those who have been convicted of crimes, along with detention facilities for those who are awaiting deportation hearings. Detection equipment may help the police arrive at a scene quicker, but unless you have space to hold those thugs, the streets aren't going to be made safer on a permanent basis.

The idea that illegal aliens were involved in this crime has sparked newfound interest in border control and enforcement of existing immigration law, but some folks are confused over the concept. There are still questions over what the Essex County prosecutors should have done to alert federal authorities on the immigration status of those entering the criminal justice system as suspects.

UPDATE:
Law enforcement is busy hunting down three men in connection with the triple execution. They're looking for Rodolfo Godinez, his brother, and another male teenager. The search extends as far South as Virginia.

Meanwhile, over in Paterson, New Jersey, another illegal alien was arrested in connection with the murder of a 23-year old pregnant woman. This guy doesn't have any gang connections as far as can be determined, but he apparently was out on bail when he committed the murder:

Police announced Wednesday that they arrested a 20-year-old Paterson resident in the shooting death last month of a pregnant woman outside Riverview Towers on Presidential Boulevard.

Julio Graciano, 20, of 375 15th Ave., was arrested Saturday by Paterson police and charged with murder in the death of Elisha Wordelman, a 23-year-old woman from Westwood who was shot while standing outside the apartment complex early July 28.

Police arrested Graciano about 5 a.m. Saturday morning after finding him sleeping at home, said Detective Lt. Anthony Traina, a Paterson police spokesman. He did not resist arrest.

Traina said they waited to announce the arrest until Wordelman's family had been notified, and to give police time to interview corroborating witnesses.

Graciano, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, is being held at the Passaic County jail on a $1 million bail with no 10 percent option, Traina said. He will make his first court appearance on Friday.

At the time of the shooting, Graciano was free on bail from an arrest in 2006 in which he was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and weapons possession.

Once again, we have a confluence of immigration law and criminal law where law enforcement and the prosecutors dropped the ball.

Those who say that illegal aliens aren't a problem certainly haven't been paying attention to what is happening around the country.