Richmond prosecutor warns of MS-13 gang activity in area

An emerging presence in the Richmond area of MS-13, a notoriously violent national street gang, is raising concern among law enforcement officials as they investigate several violent incidents, including a stabbing in Richmond.

On Thursday, Richmond Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill issued a strong warning about the dangers posed by one Chesterfield County man, Jose A. Bran. Baskervill told a judge during a bail hearing that Bran is an admitted MS-13 member who ordered a hit on a man who was abducted last month in South Richmond, stabbed repeatedly and critically wounded.

"He is extremely dangerous," said Baskervill, arguing against bail for Bran on a gang-participation charge. "I've never lost sleep over a bond hearing until this one, because it is so dire and urgent and necessary" that he remain locked up.

Baskervill also told Judge Beverly W. Snukals of Richmond Circuit Court that Bran, one of five suspects charged in last month's stabbing, is suspected of involvement in other violent incidents as well.

"There are gangs," Baskervill said, "and there's MS-13."

Defense attorney James Bullard asked the judge to set bail for Bran, arguing that he works as an electrician and supports a family. Snukals denied bail.

A source familiar with the investigation into the Jan. 14 stabbing said this week that police believe the attack is linked to an MS-13 clique called Sailors Loco Salvatrucha Western, or SLSW, which has ties to Northern Virginia and the Washington metro area.

Sgt. George Norris, a gang investigator for the police in Prince George's County, Md., said authorities in Maryland arrested a suspected SLSW member from Chesterfield in a carjacking that occurred late Monday night in Bowie, Md.

Norris identified the suspect as Efrain Ernesto Pineda-Martinez, 20, who is charged with armed carjacking, armed robbery and related charges. Two females believed to be associates of the gang were taken into custody and released without charges. Charges are pending in the case against two other SLSW members from Chesterfield, he said.

The victim, who is from the Richmond area, was not injured. Norris said the assailants announced to the victim that they are MS-13 members, which Norris said is typical behavior for members of the gang.

The source familiar with the Richmond stabbing said authorities have identified about 10 members of SLSW in the Richmond area but are concerned to see they are committing crimes as a group.

Norris said that such activity can spread "like a cancer once they take root." He added that MS-13's ultimate mission is "Mata, Viola, Controla," or "Kill, Rape, Control."

"Some gangs' mission is to make money, to get fancy clothes, to buy fancy cars and to live the high life," said Norris, who also is a training coordinator for the International Latino Gang Investigators Association. "MS-13's mission generally is to be the biggest, strongest, dominant gang in the Latino community that they're in."

Typically, when they start out in a new area, Norris said, their posture with members of other Hispanic gangs is that those members are "with us or against us."

"They either absorb or eliminate the other Latino gangs in the area," Norris said.

It could not immediately be determined what other Hispanic gangs, if any, are active in the Richmond area. Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring said this week that it was premature to comment on the gang aspect of the stabbing case because to do so would give the gang undeserved attention.

The Jan. 24 stabbing occurred after the 21-year-old victim was abducted in the area of Jefferson Davis Highway and Terminal Avenue, stabbed as many as seven times by multiple assailants inside a vehicle and left behind in the 3800 block of Terminal Avenue, police said. The victim was treated and released from VCU Medical Center.

Authorities plan to ask a grand jury on Monday to indict Bran and the other suspects on several charges, including gang-participation and wounding charges. All five suspects have addresses in Richmond or Chesterfield but are being held without bail at the Richmond City Jail.

Authorities say MS-13 has had a presence in Richmond and Chesterfield in the past. Police said in 2004 that the gang existed in Richmond. Then-Police Chief Andre Parker said he couldn't say how many members were in Richmond, but the gang's graffiti and tattoos had been spotted in earlier years.

In 2009, three MS-13 gang members who authorities said tried to import their criminal enterprise to central Virginia were convicted in a vicious gang attack in Chesterfield. The attackers pleaded guilty to ambushing a man in 2008 with knives inside a bathroom of Valentino's restaurant in the 8800 block of Jefferson Davis Highway.

The three gang members, all from El Salvador, mistakenly believed their victim was a member of a rival Hispanic gang known as 18th Street, authorities said. The victim nearly was killed after one of five stab wounds to his chest punctured his heart and left him hospitalized for weeks.