Associated Press
BLOOMERY, W.Va. -- A secluded spot along the Shenandoah River where the loudest noises come from tires crunching gravel and water rushing over a dam seems an unlikely setting for a meeting of big-city gang members.
But here on a narrow road just across the Virginia line, authorities say, members of MS-13, one of the country's most violent gangs, have begun to congregate.
"If you just drove through, you wouldn't notice," says Lt. Bobby Shirley of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. "But we sit and watch what they do." He said the women serve picnics and children play as the men stand around "clearly doing business."
MS-13 is shorthand for Mara Salvatrucha, a gang founded in Los Angeles by refugees from El Salvador. Federal authorities consider it one of the country's most vicious street gangs and estimate it has about 10,000 members in more than 30 states.
Posted by Suzanne at August 16, 2005