Movie Analysis: MS13

1. MS13 is a ruthless cross-national gang, which communicates through countries yet operates in smaller separate entities. The gang originated in Los Angeles Ca., a fact that surprised myself as well as many other Americans. When MS13 is generally referred to people assimilate the name with Mexicans or Mexican Americans. While it is true the gang began under the leadership of Mexican Americans, it surprises many to know the worlds most dangerous gang originated right here within the supposedly safe United States. Because of this interesting vacuum in which this gang took place, it was able to very quickly gain mass support and even become as strong as the Italian Mafia. This concept can be described as cultural diffusion, or in other words

An extremely interesting fact brought to light by this film is the vast distances gangs and other subsidiaries of these gangs cover. For example they explained how Los Angeles is divided up by as many as 30 gangs in one are all defending their “turf”. Turf is the term given to a nonofficial area within a defined perimeter. These can include shops, small businesses, big businesses and even street vendors. All who fall within a gangs turf must pay a portion of their total earnings or income to the gang, in return for “protection”. These tactics were originally adopted by the Italian Mafia and seen extensively in New York City. This is known as extortion, and in many cases is the gang’s main source of income aside from drugs. MS13 will allow rival drug dealers to sell on their turf if they pay a higher “tax” to the gang. This allows these areas to become extremely intricate and devious in their gang related endeavors, and more and more police are finding it a nearly impossible task to deal with. This idea can be correlated to a value cluster, or a group of values that form together to make a larger whole. These combinations of defending ones “home” defending ones income, and ones family all ties together to form the larger picture of what values these gangs truly

Many people are familiar with the Mafia in the United States as being the first attempt at organized crime. A more in-depth approach to a lucrative business that had gotten so many arrested before. Although they had started it the Mafia never quite perfected organized crime. MS13 on the other hand has the upper hand, being able to use hindsight they were able to continue this clandestine behavior and make it into the elaborately organized machine it is today. MS13 operates under its own laws, rules, and business standards to ensure their way of living remains undisturbed. These rules and codes include the basic “no snitching” policies seen in gangs universally, to more intricate codes and morals like not harming ones mother for it is a sign of disrespect. The sometimes-simple rules help to keep the gang out of the limelight and back in the shadows, to allow their real work to continue. Many are horrified to know that MS13 has its own ways of dealing with problems, and the majority of the time they are anything but humane. Including actions such as “check courting” The sociologic term that could be applied to these laws and beliefs would be Mores, or essential beliefs to the well-being of ones group, or in other words these rules are needed to ensure the function of