Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Long Island couldn’t have taken on MS-13 without a little help from the feds — as he revealed the migrant gang’s three twisted rules that made them the most dangerous in the Empire State.
Tierney said during an exclusive sit-down with The Post that migrant crews like the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua wreak havoc in the New York metropolitan area, but MS-13 poses a greater threat because prestige among the ranks is gained solely through violence and murder.
“That’s the purpose of MS-13, to be the biggest, baddest, most violent gang in the world,” he said. “They considered murder part and parcel of what they did. And that’s how you gained prestige and respect and moved up in the gang, by committing outrageous acts of violence, including murder.
“In the ethos of the gang the best way to accomplish that would be with your hands, a club machete,” Tierney said. “Violence for the MS-13 is not necessarily in furtherance of economic benefit.”
He said his office’s success in shutting down much of the gang on his turf hinges largely on the feds.
“The reason why it’s gotten significantly better is primarily the federal government — the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office. And I was part of that, but it was those agencies. They took a lot of these violent actors off the streets and made it better.”
MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha 13, was formed by immigrants from El Salvador in the US who fled civil war in their country in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to federal officials.
Initially meant to protect migrants from violence, the gang grew into one of the most notorious criminal enterprises in the country, relying more on violent attacks than traditional criminal activities.
Gang members have three rules that dictate death sentences — no member can cooperate with police, no outsider can disrespect the gang, and rival gangbangers are to be executed on sight, Tierney said.
In New York, MS-13 established a strong presence on Long Island, peaking in 2015, leaving behind a trail of ruthless and merciless violence against even helpless teenagers.
In October, a gang hanger-on nicknamed “Little Devil” was sentenced to 50 years in prison for luring four men to a local park where a gang of MS-13 thugs hacked them to death.
Leniz Escobar, 24, was convicted in 2022 of four counts of murder in aid of racketeering and one count of racketeering in connection with the horrifying crime.
In July, Alexi Saenz, 29 — the reputed former head of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside clique — admitted he was behind a series of slayings that included the deaths of Nisa Mickens, 15, and her 16-year-old friend, Kayla Cuevas, who were beaten and hacked to death in 2016.
In March 2024 police in Suffolk County said two severed heads and other scattered body parts found at a Babylon park were believed to be linked to MS-13.
Tren de Aragua, a more recent migrant menace in the Big Apple and surrounding suburbs, exploited city funded shelters in the five boroughs by recruiting new members and spearheading illegal operations.
Despite their capacity for violence, TdA largely relies on drug, gun and human trafficking, and grab-and-go robberies by crews of moped-riding migrants — focusing more on illicit profits than assault and murder.
Both MS-13 and Tren de Aragua were designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration, which has launched nationwide raids to expel illegal immigrants.
