"US Gangs That Work With Mexican TCOs — Spillover Or Standard Violence?"

Here's an excerpt from my latest article for Homeland Security Today's Correspondents Watch:

"In February 2012, two alleged members of the San Diego, Calif., gang Los Palillos (“the toothpicks”) went on trial in San Diego for conspiracy to commit kidnapping for ransom and murder -- with gang and gun-use allegations. Jose Olivera Beritan and David Valencia were just two of the 17 gang members who were indicted in 2009 for murder and kidnapping charges. At the time, nine Palillos were already in jail -- three had been killed in gang-related violent incidents, and several more were at large... Jurors in the Beritan and Valencia trial got more than an earful of the alleged atrocities committed by Los Palillos members, according to reports in The San Diego Union-Tribune. For example, prosecutors told jurors the story of a house in the Paradise Hills area of San Diego where gang members would stash kidnap victims while they waited for ransoms to be paid. In 2007, two men were bound and held captive there for two weeks. Then they were strangled to death, and gang members stuffed their bodies into 55-gallon barrels. To dispose of the bodies, the Palillos dissolved them in acid, a mixture that TCO killers refer to as pozole. In light of the direct connection between Los Palillos and AFO, this case renews the debate over border violence spillover -- namely, what counts as spillover and what is just typical gang violence."

To read the full article at HSToday.us, please CLICK HERE!

Comments

[Ed Hakes]

We just had friends move to San Diego to be closer to family and they have two young children. It is so close to the Mexican border. I run a security company and sent then a system to install. It is stuff like this that makes them nervous at times.