NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Federal agents say they’ve dismantled an MS-13 cell in Nashville following a nine-month investigation that led to 17 arrests across Tennessee, California and Oklahoma.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced that agents executed several court-authorized search warrants on Sept. 16. Officials said all 17 people taken into custody were members or associates of the violent international gang.
Investigators also seized marijuana, counterfeit pills, cocaine, THC vapes, liquid psilocybin and multiple firearms, including assault rifles, according to the DEA.
“The actions taken today against MS-13 are the first of what will be many strikes against those who prey on the weak in our society,” said Jim Scott, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Louisville Field Division. “The DEA and our law enforcement partners will not allow foreign terrorist organizations to operate in our communities. We will hunt you down and bring you to justice.”
MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, formed in Los Angeles during the 1980s and has since grown into a large criminal network with thousands of members across all 50 states, Mexico and Central America. The DEA says the gang remains a major public safety and national security threat, fueled by its role in drug trafficking and other crimes, including extortion, human trafficking, assault and murder.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to designate MS-13 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Trump’s administration has made headlines for its shifting and at times contradictory policies and statements concerning the MS-13 gang.
