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Matthew G. Russo

POPC 1600

Essay #1

Yu Zheng

MS13: Gang Culture as a Popular Counter Culture

One of the most violence prone gangs of Southern Mexico, Central America, and the

United States of America (especially Los Angeles) is a gang known as MS13 or MSX3. MS13

stands for ‘La Mara Salvatrucha 13’ which roughly broken down means, ‘The Gangs-

Salvadoran-Look out.’ They are known for extreme violence and for the smuggling of illegal

drugs. They are known to be heavily tattooed and their representing colors are blue and black.

MS13 originated in Los Angeles with Salvadoran immigrants, who banded together to defend

themselves from the other gangs of Los Angeles. The movie, ‘Sin Nombre,’ which in Spanish

means, ‘without name,’ tells an intensely violent tale of a teenaged member of MS13, named

Willy a.k.a Casper and his story of betrayal, survival, and eventually his imminent death all at

the hands of MS13. There are two stories being told in the movie, eventually later in the movie

the two stories coalesce with the fates of the two main characters. The other side of the story is of

a young Salvadoran woman named, Sayra, whose father returns after recently being deported

from the U.S. In the movie he has a second family in New Jersey, and he is determined to return

to the U.S., but this time with Sayra and her Uncle (Sayra’s father’s brother). This story although

very interesting and monumental to the entirety of the movie, will not be my focus in this essay.

The focus of this essay is MS13 and its aspects of a popular counter culture, especially in its

manner of appeal to young children and the initiation process that follows upon recruitment.

Within the entirety of this essay I want to pose three questions which are the theses for this

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essay: Why is gang culture such a popular alternative for young children rather than mainstream

culture? What makes gang culture popular counter culture? How does MS13 choose potential

recruits to be inducted into the gang?

Popularity and Initiation

The story begins with Casper’s arrival to the house of a potential recruitment opportunity,

a young 14 year old boy, whom lives with his grandmother. When an adolescent boy or girl

reaches the age of 13 or 14, they are usually the target for gang recruitment; as they may already

have a prior fascination or admiration for the power and machismo that a member of MS13

displays in front of young children. An example of this in the movie is the short section where

the 14 year old Smiley sits with several young children and boasts of his mission for the gang to

kill Casper (after Casper had killed el Ranflero or leader of a clique, because el Ranflero had

murdered Casper’s girlfriend, whom he had previously kept in secret). The children were awe

inspired that Smiley was sent on such a important mission; and even more awe inspired when he

displayed a 5-shot snub nosed revolver, which was given to Smiley in order to kill Casper. One

child even gives Smiley a recommendation on how to catch the on-the-run Casper: ‘ambush

him.’ Either though gang culture is not displayed through the media or advertised, it is attractive

simply because it displays power in a society where there is complete poverty. The most

attractive attributes of gang culture is that the gang is a brotherhood unit, taking care of each

other and sharing everything (communal living). This structure runs along the same lines as

communism, where everything stolen or any revenue through crime is not used for a single

individuals gain, but for the entire gang to have a means of buying commodities such as food. In

one part of the movie, el Ranflero or his gang name, Lil’Mago discusses with his fellow gang

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members the need for more missions to collect money (through armed robbery), so that they can

buy food for the ‘homies’ in prison.

Children that live in a single parent home or in a home where either the parents are absent

(or dead) or in the case of Smiley, live with a grandparent, see gang culture in many ways as a

family unit. The other popular attribute is that in poverty stricken societies such as those in

Guatemala and southern Mexico, is that gang culture can supply the youth with a purpose or an

importance. Many Latin American cities have educational institutions which in the case of

Guatemala City, Guatemala supply free public education, but because of the lack of money many

families cannot afford to buy the necessary school supplies for their child to take part in the

school (since many schools are Catholic based and require uniforms and stationery). The other

problem lies with mass unemployment, because through lack of education many adults lack the

skills to be employed, therefore many resort to crime. These are two main reasons why gang

culture is so appealing to youth. Many families also lack the ability to earn enough money to

feed their children, therein hunger gives precedence to the sincere promise of MS13 that

members of MS13 will not go hungry.

Power is also a seductive aspect of gang culture. In Latin American communities many

youth feel helpless, hopeless, and powerless to a society with a strict dividing line between the

high class/consumer culture and those that live in poverty. The promising idea of having such

things as a gun or the power to take a life or the power to do as one wishes and take what one

wishes from those who have so much is an appealing possibility that can become a reality

through gang culture.

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After the initial attraction to power and the possibility to have food, shelter, and a family

unit, the children are already awaiting a member of MS13 to come and hopefully notice them as

potential recruitment possibility. The next step after being chosen to join MS13 is the initiation

process. The initiation process is different depending on which process the gang chooses to test

the youth’s machismo or manliness, but with MS13 they initiate their members through a 13

second brutal beating. In the movie, the 14 year old boy is surrounded, seemingly he knows what

is about to happen so he starts throwing punches; after they grab him the beating starts first with

punches and when the young boy hits the ground they begin to kick him (some with smiles on

their faces) after 13 seconds the boy is approached by el Ranflero who cradles the beaten bloody

boy’s head in his hands and kisses his forehead. El Ranflero names him Smiley, as the boy gives

a painful smile after being called ‘homie.’ The initiation process is quite different for female

recruits. Their initiation process includes having sexual relations with every member of the gang

for 13 seconds.

As with the movie, the new MS13 member has to pass another test: killing a chavala or a

member of another gang. In the movie, the young boy, Smiley, was assisted by Casper in using a

home-made shot gun to kill a captured member of the 18th

Street gang (another popular street

gang). This immediate introduction to killing someone desensitizes the newly inducted gang

member to make them familiar with killing, especially since MS13 is prone to murderous

violence, that which gives them a deadly reputation.

Conclusion

The popularity of MS13 although not shown or utilized in mainstream media is a popular

street culture that is based on survival, along with surviving (through sustained violence) a

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society that has divided these communities into privileged consumer culture/ high class/ popular

modes of culture and poverty that in desperation turns to any means necessary to survive. Gang

culture is a popular counter culture because it clashes with the mainstream popular culture of the

privileged; this counter culture through its use of extreme violence has made a fearful name for

itself, therefore people refer to MS13’s members as mareros, that which is used both as a term of

identification and as a term of contempt. In Guatemala City, Guatemala, law enforcement and

federal officers go toe to toe with all the gangs within its borders, attempting to counter the

violence with force. The subject of the poverty stricken population is not given a second thought

and in fact, most privileged citizens of Guatemala City do not even know that there is a poverty

stricken population around the edges of the city itself, all packed into slums. The slums such as

‘La Limonada’ in Guatemala City, which was at one time the most dangerous slum in Guatemala

with an irrefutable reputation.

The other issue brought up in class that is pertinent to MS13, is the way that they collect

money, valuables, and other sorts of revenue, which all becomes property of MS13, and share it

as a communal type of deposit, used for the benefit of the entire clique. This type of communal

money jar, so to speak, is similar to the form of government called communism. Communism

dictates social ownership to the extreme side of the spectrum. Of course, recalling popular

dictators of communist governments of the past and present, Joseph Stalin, Kim il-Jeung, etc.,

this is displayed in MS13 through el Ranflero who calls all the shots and establishes missions to

be carried out by certain members. The other side that is specifically communal is that the

women who are in MS13, whom for purposes of sex, are exploited communally. Thus everything

is distributed and shared evenly and within this specific group.

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The method that MS13 uses to choose potential recruits is very simple. Children who are

impressionable and lack a fatherly figure in their life are easily convinced through the promises

of the MS13: food, shelter, a family, sex, power, and respect; and that they will be better off

without their single parent or grandparent. The one thing that MS13 doesn’t explain is that this

lifestyle is a lifetime commitment and the only way out is death.

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Sources:

SIN NOMBRE (2009). Focus Features LLC. Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga. Film.

“Gang Awareness Guide: Recognize the Signs.” NJ Office of the Attorney General/ Juvenile

Justice Commission. JJC’s Gang Management Unit: 1001 Spruce Street, Suite 202, P.O.

Box 107, Trenton, NJ 08625-0107. Telephone: (609)341-3468, Fax: (609)943-4611.

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