Gangs are becoming more dangerous and prolific, according to the 2012 FBI gang report.

There are more than 33,000 gangs across the country, with as many as 1.4 million members, the Business Insider reports.

About half of violent crimes committed in the U.S. are gang-related, the report states.

The FBI also released a list of America’s most frightening gangs.

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By Danny Fenster

More than 900 law enforcement officers and agents followed through on arrests and search warrants in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday, according to a press release, as part of a large-scale takedown of a narcotics trafficking ring.

Local, state and federal officers, including an FBI SWAT team, made 27 arrests and seized “a significant amount” of drugs, money and automobiles, mostly in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, as part of “Operation Phallen Gardens.”

The operation was the result of a two-year investigation by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and the San Francisco Safe Streets Task Force focusing on a group of individuals who supplied drugs to local gangs.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

Consider the streets of Suffolk County, N.Y. that much safer: Five members of the violent street gang MS-13 were named in a indictment unsealed on Monday, the FBI announced later that day. The charges include murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, armed robberies, firearms offenses, and related conspiracy charges.

Jose Alvarenga, also known as “Fosforo,” and Hector Torres, also known as “Smiley,” face murder charges over the death of 15-year-old Christopher Hamilton in 2009, and Rigoberto Gomez in 2010, both in Brentwood, New York.

All of those charged are now in custody, the FBI says. Alvarenga and Torres were arraigned on Monday, while the other three will be arraigned later in the week.

Authorities alleged that on November 20, 2009, Alvarenga, the leader of the Brentwood Locos Salvatruchas (BLS) clique of  the MS-13, ordered gang members to attack suspected rival gang members at a house party in Brentwood, says the FBI.

He armed his men with a .22 caliber rifle and a semi-automatic handgun, then led them to the house. At least three rifle shots were fired into a crowd outside the home moments after they arrived. One of the shots fatally hit Christopher Hamilton in the temple.

The indictment also alleges that in August 2010, members of an MS-13 clique known as the Sailors suspected that another MS-13 member, Rigoberto Gomez, was working with local law enforcement, so they put a “green light” on Gomez, which allowed other members to kill Gomez on sight, says the FBI.

“They lured Gomez into the car, inviting him to smoke marijuana with them at the nearby Freeman Avenue Park,” says the FBI. “After exiting the car, Torres stepped behind Gomez and fired a bullet from a .357 caliber revolver into the back of Gomez’s head, and fired a second shot into Gomez’s head after the victim fell to the ground. Torres then handed the gun to the other MS-13 member, who fired a third shot into Gomez’s head.”

By Danny Fenster

If prison is hell, some Denver gang members may have found their soul mates.

Members of the motorcycle gang Hell’s Lovers were arrested this weekend and made their first court appearance on Monday afternoon, reports 9news.com.

There wasn’t enough room for all 19 defendants in the jury box, 9news reports, so defendants had to sit in the first row of the courtroom

The Feds raided a number of homes around Denver on Friday night and made at least 15 arrests, according to U.S. Attorney for Colorado John Walsh. Authorities alleged that between January 2005 and September 2011, 16 members of the gang got together to “use and distribute cocaine and marijuana.”

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

Five members of the cartel-like Los Palillos gang, a blight on life in San Diego, remain at large while the FBI continues searching for them, reports 10 News.

“It’s as if a group of serial killers moved from Tijuana into San Diego and started murdering citizens here,” deputy district attorney Mark Amador said of the group, who are said to be responsible for a kidnapping and killing spree across San Diego county, according to the station.

A Los Palillos member was seen on surveillance cameras casing a wealthy entrepreneur’s home in area in 2009; just days later, the homeowner was kidnapped and held hostage. FBI swat tracked down the hostage holders, apprehending six, but the others got away.

“We believe some of these members are down in Mexico but it doesn’t preclude them from traveling around Mexico or possibly up here,” said FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth, the station reported.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

American streets may become much more dangerous.

Military.com reports that, according to the latest National Gang Intelligence Center Report (NGIC), American street gangs are acquiring high-powered, military-grade weapons with increasing frequency, the result of gang members both enlisted and working as contract civilians at military bases who may be funneling the weapons to gang members on the street.

Over the summer, 27 AK-47s were stolen from a warehouse in Fort Irwin, according to the Military.com report, which investigators suspect were gang related.

The NGIC identified 53 different gangs with members serving in the military, as of April of this year.

“The exact number of enlisted gang members is hard to come by,” the Military.com report reads, “as many times investigators only see graffiti or paraphernalia as evidence of gang activity.”

To read more click here.

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