"The MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang"

Monday October 26
1:00-2:30PM (EST)

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Over the last five years the MS-13, a transnational gang with origins in the United States and El Salvador, has drawn immense attention from the policymakers and the news media. The US government has described the group as a powerful transnational criminal organization. The story of this gang, however, is far more nuanced that many of its public portrayals by the government and the press reflecting a complex criminal economy developed amid a multi-leveled leadership structure that operates differently in the United States and Central America. Effectively responding to the challenges of such an organization requires understanding the dynamics and structure of its leadership and operations.

This event will discuss the Steven Dudley's recent book The MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang. The book explores the origins, development, efforts by members to leave the gang, and efforts by policymakers to decrease its influence. In this session we will discuss the gang, responses to it, and Mr. Dudley's experience researching and writing about this organization.

Moderator: Enrique Desmond Arias, professor, Marxe Chair of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Ausitn W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College, City University of New York

Speaker: Steven Dudley, author, co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime, and a senior fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies in Washington, D.C.

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