Gangs Of New Utrecht: Two Most Ruthless Latino Gangs Mark Territory In Bensonhurst

They may look like a child’s artwork, but these scribbles are far from harmless.

A tipster sent us multiple photos of graffiti tags associated with two of the nation’s most ruthless street gangs, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Los Angeles-based Sureños (SUR 13), found up and down New Utrecht Avenue.

MS-13 — often identifiable by distinctive head and face tattoos — are believed to be the most dangerous gang in the country, reports Business Insider:

Originating in El Salvador, the gang has gone transnational, with members across the United States (in 42 states) and in countries like Guatemala and Mexico.

MS-13 has worked with Mexican drug cartels and communicates frequently with incarcerated members despite no official leadership structure.

The gang is notoriously violent, relentlessly cruel and merciless, with plenty of well-documented public crimes, such as a San Francisco member who killed a family for briefly blocking his car.

Meanwhile, Sureños, also known as the 18th Street gang, are one of the fastest growing crime rings in America, having recently expanding “across 32 states, from Maryland to Hawaii,” according to BI.

Here in New York, MS-13s have a very strong presence in Queens and they are currently the largest street gang in Long Island, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Since 2003, more than 250 MS-13 members, including dozens of gang leaders, were convicted on federal felony charges in the city — more than 150 of them on federal racketeering charges.

Since 2010 alone, more than 35 MS-13 members were convicted in New York for their roles in 20 different murders. Most recently, three teens — alleged members of MS-13 — were charged with the brutal gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Long Island, according to news reports.

While the NYPD’s 62nd Precinct did not respond to a request for comment about gang activity in Bensonhurst, the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario La Prensa recently covered the rise in Mexican gang activity in neighboring communities like Sunset Park, Coney Island and Brighton Beach.

“Residents have reported that gangs have become more hostile by increasingly recruiting younger children, engaging in violent fights, extorting business owners, selling and buying illegal weapons, and creating small prostitution rings,” according to a translation of the El Diario article by CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s Voices of New York project.

Here are just a few of the markings spotted on New Utrecht Avenue and in the New Utrecht subway station: