US officials indicted 96 members and associates MS-13, a street gang that caused a series of violent incidents in New York.

Timothy Sini, Suffolk County attorney in Long Island, New York, said yesterday's indictment dealt a blow to gang leaders and drug dealers in the area. MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, is considered one of the leading transnational organized crime in the United States.

A two-year investigation by state and federal authorities found gang members on Long Island colluding with other members in Europe and Oklahoma making money from drug trafficking and sending the money earned to gang leaders. party in El Salvador, according to point 77 in the indictment raised earlier this week.

The gang has been accused of causing numerous murders, including the murder of two young women in 2016, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice to take action. Sini said this was the biggest case against MS-13 in New York.

MS-13 feuds with opponents, even killing its members when it detects signs of disloyalty or failing to perform mandatory duties, such as paying fees, selling drugs and weapons, The indictment said.

Officials said more than 10 kilograms of cocaine had been collected, hundreds of fentanyl pills - an addictive synthetic painkiller, drug "ledger" documents, rifles and other guns, and more than $ 200,000 in cash. Among the suspects arrested were the 9 clans of MS-13.

"MS-13 is a ruthless, barbaric gang," Sini said at a press conference yesterday, referring to the gang's machete, symbolic weapon obtained by the police. "They will cut off and send another member to own the Suffolk area. That's why we have to be on the lookout," he said.

Sini said the investigation provides the government with a deep understanding of the gang structure and membership enrollment model. The government has monitored calls from more than 200 phone numbers.

The US has carried out dozens of gang arrest suspects in recent years during the crackdown. In 2017, police arrested 15 MS-13 members for murder and other allegations, after the massacre of four young men in a park on Long Island and the killing of a rival gang member.

"Their rule is violence, fear and territorial control. We will continue to repel them," said Ray Donovan, agent in charge of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in New York.

US President Donald Trump, during a visit to Long Island in July 2017, blamed the gang's behavior for its loose immigration policy.

MS-13 is thought to be a street gang created by immigrants fleeing a civil war in El Salvador in the mid-1980s. MS-13 recruited young people from El Salvador and Honduras, although many gang members was born on Long Island of America.

The El Salvador Supreme Court declared MS-13 a terrorist in 2015, paving the way for tougher sentences aimed at gang members.