Watch Live: Suffolk Police Commissioner Tim Sini Testifying Before Congress On Deadly MS-13 Gang

As the threat of deadly street gangs continues to escalate across Long Island and the nation, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini is set to testify Wednesday at a hearing on Capitol Hill on MS-13.

Sini will speak at the hearing, "Border Insecurity: The Rise Of MS-13 and other Transnational Criminal Organizations" before the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at 10 a.m.

• Watch the hearing live here.

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the presence and activity of gangs and transnational criminal organizations in American communities and the nexus to border security, a release from Sini's office said.

Sini said he's been asked to provide insight on the impact of MS-13 activity in Suffolk County, describe the police department’s initiatives in eradicating gangs and make recommendations to the federal government on how it can help in the ongoing battle.

During his testimony, Sini is expected to describe recent trends of transnational gang-related activity in the SCPD’s jurisdiction; factors he believes are contributing to the rise of gang activity in the community; the challenges the department faces in combating gang activity; and the important partnership between the department and residents of the affected communities.

Sini also said he plans to describe the department's cooperation with federal law enforcement agencies responsible for securing the U.S. border and shed insight into any policies he believes Congress and the administration should embrace to empower law-enforcement officials, educators, and other community stakeholders to stop ongoing recruitment and violence that has ravaged Suffolk communities.

The hearing will take place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Suffolk County has been thrust into the international spotlight as a series of horrific gang slaying has shocked the nation and the world, including the gruesome discovery of four bodies in Central Islip on Long Island — the four young men are believed to have been victims of the deadly MS-13 street gang

Lawmakers, educators and a horrified public have been working to shine a light on MS-13 and seek answers on how to stem the tide of escalating violence.

The vicious murders have shocked a nation, with President Donald Trump vowing to crack down on the violence and blaming former President Barack Obama in a tweet for failed policies that have allowed gang members to cross the border at alarming rates.

Last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke on Long Island about federal efforts to take down and "demolish" MS-13. "We are targeting you."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone also laid out a plan in April to tackle and weaken the emerging MS-13 threat and eradicate the criminal organization from the county, following the brutal murders of the four teenagers in Central Islip on Long Island.

The proposals outlined would include working together with the federal government to establish a notification process to inform a local government and school district when an unaccompanied minor is placed in a community, a release said.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo also vowed to help tackle the gang issue with a new task force.

MS-13, which was formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s by immigrants fleeing El Salvador's civil war, is known for its brutal violence, including machete attacks and home invasions.

The four young men found dead on the night of April 12 at Central Islip Recreation Village Park suffered trauma from a sharp-edged instrument. They were only 16, 18, 18 and 20 years-old; their lives just beginning.

One of the victims, Jorge Tigre, a Bellport High School honor student, was not a gang member and allegedly became a target after he refused to associate with gang members following the murder of two girls in Brentwood, Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas, who were murdered in September by MS-13 gang members with machetes.

Thirteen MS-13 members have been charged with seven murders, including those of Mickens and Cuevas, that occurred in Brentwood and Central Islip over the past several years.

Tigre's sister Monica Tigre, in an interview with Patch, declined to discuss what may have led to her brother's murder, but said she and her family are left with only memories.

"The only thing I can said he was a wonderful person. He was always smiling and helping my family and me. I will remember him — his smile and his kindness," Tigre said.

One former MS-13-member shared his gripping story with Patch in a recent interview.

In that same report, Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit volunteer safety patrol organization whose members are known for their trademark red berets, spoke to Patch about the path MS-13 has taken to Long Island.

From the federal government to local law enforcement, officials appalled by the staggering violence have vowed a crackdown.

“The Suffolk County Police Department is doing everything in our power to solve these murders. It’s all hands on deck,” Sini said. “We are working closely with the FBI to solve these homicides.”

Unaccompanied minors and gang activity on Long Island

According to Suffolk County Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff Michael Sharkey, with amped up enforcement efforts, gang members are now trying to become less identifiable.

"A lot of gangs are trying to blend in," Sharkey said. "They used to have noticeable tattoos, but that's now seen as counterproductive to their carrying on their gang business."

In an interview with Patch, Sgt. Steve Lundquist, an investigator for the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office gang intelligence unit, said specifics of the Central Islip murder investigation could not be discussed due to the ongoing case.

But he said the murders "have put a spotlight" on gang activity on Long Island. "And rightfully so. Once it's young kids, getting killed, young girls getting killed, it really gets people’s attention."

Discussing MS-13's presence in Brentwood and Central Islip, Lundquist said the demographics of the area have changed, with communities "inundated" with individuals of Central American descent. "Not to say they're bad people, but when a new group does come in, sometimes they are the minority in that area, and gangs form for protection. After awhile, when the area changes, their population increases and they become the dominant group in that area."

MS-13, he agreed, became a presence on Long Island in the late 90s, "but not with the numbers we have now."

Today, Lundquist said, families have grown and brought new family members to the area. "A lot of people from El Salvador have heard about Brentwood, so they flock there," he said.

Unaccompanied minors in the area have been linked to gang activity, Lundquist said.

"Because they are unaccompanied, they are looking for a place to live, looking for food, looking for people that will take care of them," he said. "The gang is very attractive, to help them out, give them a place to live, feed them. That's one of the ways to recruit them, to become members of a gang — they have no place else to turn sometimes."

Many unaccompanied minors, he said, come from areas of El Salvador where MS-13 "runs a lot of the country." Some are already MS-13 members when they arrive in the United States, or have grown up with MS-13 family members. "They don't know anything different," he said.

Recruitment, Lundquist said, is happening in schools, streets, anyplace where people openly congregate, with most kids initiated between 12 and 15-years-old. "If they're going to recruit them, they get them when they're young and impressionable and don't know better," he said.

Some kids who resist recruitment could be killed, Lundquist said, because MS-13 gangs are afraid those potential recruits will be scooped up by the rival 18th Street gang.

MS-13 violence, he agreed, is marked by deadly machete use and for violent robberies and home invasions, with less of an emphasis on drug dealing, which is seen more with Latin Kings, Bloods and Crips.

Rep. Peter King, R-Seaford, agreed that a federal program that allows unaccompanied minors to cross the border is a critical issue; he said he's had extensive conversations with Sini — and of the MS-13 arrests made, more than 50 to 70 percent were unaccompanied minors, King said. There are more than 4,000 unaccompanied minors in Suffolk County, King told Patch.

Unaccompanied minors who come to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, are placed with families "that have been threatened by MS-13 or paid by MS-13," King said. It's believed, King said, "that MS-13 is gaming or using the system" to get young people placed with Suffolk County families and subsequently, bolster MS-13 ranks.

HHS, he said, "is not a law enforcement organization," and therefore, there is "a question of how extensive their investigation is or how equipped they are to do an investigation."

King said there is definite pressure for kids to join gangs, with the threat of violence for those who won't join.

"Police have told me that kids who don't join get beat up pretty badly, there's definite pressure — a definite risk of being killed," he said.

King said he's worked with Sessions, HHS, Sini — to whom he gives full credit for the increased crackdown — and Homeland Security, and said a multi-pronged approach is essential to tackle a lethal problem that's "decimating communities."

His fear is that once the killers are caught, gangs will fade from the public perception "until the next atrocity. Once those arrests are made, we can't do a victory lap. That's where we have to stay focused," he said.