Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 23. Chapters: Mara Salvatrucha, Sinaloa Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, Los Zetas Cartel, Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, Mexican Mafia, Gulf Cartel, Juárez Cartel, Mongols, Vagos Motorcycle Club, Tijuana Cartel, 18th Street gang, Colima Cartel, Los Negros, Sonora Cartel, La Línea, Logan Heights Gang, Guadalajara Cartel, Milenio Cartel, Oaxaca Cartel, Los Pelones, South Pacific Cartel, Gente Nueva, List of gangs in Mexico. Excerpt: Mara Salvatrucha (commonly abbreviated as MS, Mara, and MS-13) is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread to other parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Central Americans and active in urban and suburban areas. Members of MS distinguish themselves by tattoos covering the body and also often the face, as well as the use of their own sign language. They are notorious for their use of violence and a subcultural moral code that predominantly consists of merciless revenge and cruel retributions. This excessive cruelty of the distinguished members of the "Maras" or "Mareros" earned them a path to be recruited by the Sinaloa Cartel battling against Los Zetas in an ongoing drug war south of the United States border. Their wide-ranging activities and elevated status has even caught the eye of the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who recently initiated wide-scale raids against known and suspected gang members netting hundreds of arrests across the country. The Mara Salvatrucha gang originated in Los Angeles, set up in the 1980s by Salvadoran immigrants in the city's Pico-Union neighborhood who immigrated to the United States after the Central American civil wars of the 1980s. Originally, the gang's main purpose was to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other, more established gangs of Los Angeles, who were predominantly composed of Mexicans and African-Americans. Many Mara Salvatrucha gang members from the Los Angeles area have been deported after being arrested. As a result of these deportations, members of MS have recruited more members in their home countries. The Los Angeles Times contends that deportation policies have contributed to the size and influence of the gang both in the United States and in Central America. According to the 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment, "The gang is estimated to have 30, 000 to 50, 000 members and associate members