Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa Warns of New Gang, Sur 13, Infiltrating Long Island

The insidious tentacles of deadly gang activity continue to spread across Long Island, with the presence of a new gang, Sur 13, creeping into the area, according to Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels.

Sliwa, who founded the red-beret wearing anti-crime organization in 1979, said there’s been a shift in the movement of gangs over the past year, with the biggest change evidenced by the presence of the southern California gang, Sur 13, or the violent Surenos gang, on Long Island.

Sur 13 members, Sliwa said, often have tattoos that say “Sur,” “13,” or “Sur 13.” Other times, he said, rather than the more visible tattoos, they are seen garbed in LA Dodgers gear.

The violent Sureños gang originates mostly from southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, Sliwa said; their enemies in Central America and in California are the Nortenos, who mostly come from northern Mexico.

But, while there has been no Nortenos spottings in either Nassau County or Suffolk County, the insidious presence of Sur 13 has made itself known first in Queens, more than a year ago, and most recently, in Hempstead and Riverhead, he said.

Interestingly, Sliwa said, Sur 13 members don’t take issue with the MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, gang, which originated in Los Angeles and is made up largely of Salvadorans.

“In fact, in many instances they will gather up and socialize side-by-side,” Sliwa said. Sur 13 members, however, do have a problem the 18th Street gang, deep-seated rivals of MS-13, he noted.

Sur 13 is a violent gang to be watched, Sliwa warned.

“They are small now, but if not stopped, could become a growing force once they get locked up and sent either Nassau County or the Suffolk County lock-up where they will try and recruit,” he said.

Nassau County Police Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, however, said he does not believe that the Surenos pose a significant threat. "The Surenos gang has a minor presence in Nassau County and will shrink further in size as we continue to make additional arrests. Overall gang crime is down in Nassau due to predictive analysis, intelligence led policing and strict enforcement in known gang locations."

Gang violence has escalating nationwide, according to the FBI, which published a “2015 Gang Report,” which said “gangs of all types remain steadfast in their objectives to generate revenue and gain control of the territories they inhabit; and in their dedication to these objectives, gangs continue to grow in numbers and expand in their criminal activities.”

The report added that “progressions in membership and criminality stem from how fluidly gangs adapt to shifting circumstances so as to protect their interest.”

Ultimately, the report stated, gangs evolve by consistently adjusting their behaviors to meet their inflexible goals. “Gangs thereby emerge as ever-changing, unpredictable organizations that vary from one jurisdiction to the next and thus continue to threaten communities nationwide,” the report reads.

In addition to drug distribution, the report said gangs, to meet their primary objective, making money, “are increasing their involvement in the high-profit crimes of sex trafficking and prostitution. As a means of securing power, gangs continue to seek employment within the military and within government institutions and law enforcement agencies. Gangs also continue to form partnerships with other criminal organizations in order to widen their networks; thus, gangs have connected with Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations, or MTCOs, sex trafficking rings, and extremist groups. Gangs are also increasing their use of technology — social media in particular – in order to spread their message and recruit new members,” the report states.

The report also notes that gangs continue to foster partnerships with MTCOs, with survey respondents reporting “more than 96 gangs involved in cross-border crimes. Sureños, Barrio Azteca, and Tango Blast rank as the top three most criminally active gangs along the US/Mexico border.”

On the East End, Sliwa, who sent patrols out to the North Fork after a gang related shooting in 2014, said the situation in Greenport and Riverhead remains pretty much the same,with MS-13 a stronger and more active presence than the 18th Street gang.

“There is, though, tremendous growth in Brentwood where the Guardian Angels do not have a presence. Often times in Brentwood as you travel the streets you will see Bloods and Crips in the mostly black community and MS-13 in the Latino community. In Huntington Station, which we patrol, there has been an uptick in Blood and Crip recruitment in the village, but in Huntington Station itself, MS-13 continues to remain dominant in the Latino community,” Sliwa said.

Meanwhile, in Hempstead, where the Guardian Angels kicked off patrols last year, there’s a “continued battle between Blood and Crips in the black community,” Sliwa said. “The Bloods are the stronger of the two.” MS-13, he said, while growing and challenging their status, still remains in the predominantly Latino community.

Referring to a machete attack reported by CBS that took place at Hempstead Lake State Park, Sliwa said he believes the assailants might be “MS-13, with one member possibly being as young as seven.”

Police, however, have not connected that machete attack to any gang activity.

Suffolk County Police said Friday, however, that gang crimes jn general are difficult to document because, while a gang member may be charged with a crime, a “gang” incident may also means just a large number of individuals involved in the incident.

The last two areas in Nassau County where the MS-13 gang is growing in strength are in Roosevelt and in Valley Stream, Sliwa said.

Sliwa has long said that when thousands of young people were sent to the United States more than a year ago from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, “in many instances to escape the threats of MS-13 and other affiliated gangs, many have settled in the Nassau and Suffolk County area. About 3,000 in total. MS-13 has gone out of their way to try to recruit these youngsters with varied success.”

Such was the case in March, when an MS-13 gang leader was convicted on 24 charges for assaulting and intimidating teenage and younger Salvadorean immigrants in Uniondale, according to the Nassau County DA.

After a 10-day trial, a Nassau County jury deliberated for one day before finding 31-year-old Jesus Arevalo, of Hempstead, guilty of all 24 counts against him, the DA said.

In 2014, Arevalo, a member of the MS-13 gang, directed students at Uniondale High School who were also members of MS-13, including students as young as 15, to recruit students who had recently come to the school from El Salvador, according to the DA.

On May 12, 2014, Arevalo, along with his "co-conspirators," waited outside of Uniondale High School for a student who had resisted the gang’s earlier advancements, the DA said.

Immediately after school, Arevalo, along with three others, surrounded the student and with Arevalo leading the charge, gang members punched and kicked the student's head and body and attempted to steal his bicycle, the DA said.

About two weeks later members of MS-13 were again harassing the same student in school, the DA said.

Another student intervened and told the gang members to leave the student alone and one of the gang members told him that he would be next, the DA said.

Four days later, that student was stabbed by two MS-13 associates of the Arevalo, who was not present for the stabbing.

On August 14, 2014, members of MS-13 surrounded the house of yet another Uniondale High School student, who had been harassed by the gang as far back as November of 2012, the DA said.

Moments later, Arevalo arrived at the house with a gun, went into the backyard and fired multiple times at the five people who were in the backyard, including a nine-year-old child, according to the DA.

Arevalo conspired with seven other people, who were enrolled as students at Uniondale High School and ranged in age from 15 to 19 years old at the time of the crimes, according to the DA.

There are solutions, some say. According to Bob DeSena, founder and CEO of Council for Unity, a group that works inside the Suffolk County Correctional Facility providing a new path, through group counseling and empowerment exercises for inmates, many of whom were gang rivals: “The conditions that promulgate gang activity are constant and unchanging. In my experience since I was gang involved from the 50s to now. America doesn't invest in positive peer groups. It's always more cops, more jails. Until a culture of despair and alienation is replaced with one of hope, this is never going away.”

He added: “If you read ‘Gangs of New York’ or saw the movie, this phenomenon goes back to the 1700s. When there's no place at the table or cycles of poverty, lack of opportunity define our struggling communities, we have breeding grounds for gang activity. Schools and law enforcement do not have the resources to change these conditions so billions are spent in fruitless attempts to reverse these trends. The only thing our institutions can do is to react to these problems and not change them.”

If Long Island invested in Council for Unity as New York City has, DeSena said: “We'd cut gang involvement in half. With Royal Learning Institute providing free tuition to up to 1,000 CFU members, we could break the back of gang recruitment out here.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said the battle to eradicate gangs is raging forward.

Gun violence and drug dealing go hand-in-hand when we have street gangs operating in the community,” he said. “Suffolk County law enforcement will continue to do everything we can to disrupt the illegal activities of street gangs and improve our quality of life by bringing gang members to justice.”