Before President Donald Trump left office on January 20, 2021, he gave the American people a farewell gift earlier that month: the destruction of the senior leadership of MS-13 (the Ranfla Nacional), the very brains and heart of the most notorious and violent gang in the United States that had troubled urban and suburban communities alike as well as Central America and other areas of the globe. The visionary Chief Executive had raised the bar during his administration by declaring the end state of MS-13 should not be mitigation but eradication. The astonishing victory ensuing from this goal barely received media coverage --like so many other accomplishments of the Commander-In-Chief -- even though fourteen of the gang’s top leadership who commanded global operations for over two decades were captured and prosecuted. In addition to these “Board of Directors,” nearly 750 others who comprise the deadly MS-13 networks killing, terrorizing, and corrupting local communities have been prosecuted during the President’s term.

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MS-13: Coming to a Town Near You—
But Not That Soon, Thanks to President Trump
By Dr. Scott Catino
Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 (FBI Records)
Before President Donald Trump left office on January 20, 2021, he gave the American people a
farewell gift earlier that month: the destruction of the senior leadership of MS-13 (the Ranfla
Nacional), the very brains and heart of the most notorious and violent gang in the United States
that had troubled urban and suburban communities alike as well as Central America and other
areas of the globe. The visionary Chief Executive had raised the bar during his administration by
declaring the end state of MS-13 should not be mitigation but eradication. The astonishing
victory ensuing from this goal barely received media coverage --like so many other
accomplishments of the Commander-In-Chief -- even though fourteen of the gang’s top
leadership who commanded global operations for over two decades were captured and
prosecuted. In addition to these “Board of Directors,” nearly 750 others who comprise the
deadly MS-13 networks killing, terrorizing, and corrupting local communities have been
prosecuted during the President’s term.
This death cult’s drug trafficking, human trafficking, human smuggling, murder for hire, and
inter-gang violence are well-known by the public, but its expanding lethal capabilities are not.
MS-13’s global reach, acquisition of more advanced weaponry including “M-16s and M-60
machine guns, grenades, IEDs, and rocket launchers,” military camps training assassins,
targeting of US Federal agents, and partnering with Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations
made the international gang a growing and major threat not widely understood. These lethal
realities are often lost in dark and narrow perception tunnels created by shadowy media images
from the hands of pundits decrying racism and repression. MS-13 had grown so powerful it was
able to use its diplomatic influence to cow the government of El Salvador into a truce, giving this

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Transnational Criminal Organization the very peace and recognition it needed to expand its
deadly capabilities.
President Trump’s unique business model approach to securing our nation and its many
neighborhoods from this terrorist group involved a whole of government strategy as well as
prioritizing and integrating strategic operations such as targeting, foreign partnering, extradition,
and prosecution—so often mere words of security planners but too rarely executed with such
precision and potency. The author of the business classic, The Art of the Deal (1987), understood
far better than recent presidential administrations that operations (security or otherwise) succeed
primarily by the quality of personnel and the effectiveness of the execution stage--and not merely
by clever strategies. In this case, Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV) created in 2019, emerged as a
synergistic entity of domestic and foreign security partners born from the President’s executive
order in 2017 to dismantle comprehensively and decisively TCOs such as MS-13.
Moreover, President Trump understood the center of gravity of MS-13 was its freedom of
movement, its ability to penetrate the US border and find sanctuary and security in the United
States, evident in the fact 74% of prosecuted MS-13 over the last four years entered illegally.
Border security therefore became a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s domestic security
agenda, prioritizing responsible citizenship and denying the unaccountable--so glibly called
“undocumented”--an approach with broad security benefits for the entire country.
Joe Biden’s inaugural supporters in Washington, D.C. were still digesting their over-priced
novelty drinks and foods such as “Biden Bubbly” and “Dogs for Democracy” when their
President left the awkward COVID-friendly event and signed an Executive Order stopping the
construction of the border wall. In contrast, three days earlier, CBP Acting Commissioner Mark
Morgan asserted the wall had “transformed the operational environment on the southwest
border” because the very structure “denies, deters and impedes the unlawful entry of people and
contraband into the United States” -- people like MS-13.
Transnational Criminal Organizations such as MS-13 have demonstrated over the last 20 years a
remarkable ability to rejuvenate after facing organizational decapitation, decimation, and
damage. Given the liberties already granted to them by the Biden administration, with more
promised to follow, MS-13 will be back--but not soon. It takes time to restructure, reorganize,
and resurrect. We can thank President Trump for forcing these gangs to lick their wounds rather
than ours.
Dr. Scott Catino is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and member of the Virginia Tea Party, and the Anti-Communist Action
Team (ACAT). He is an author, educator, scholar, and advocate for American Founding Principles, and American
Constitutionalism. He served in the United States, Bahrain, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the UAE in various research,
supervisory, and advising posts for the United States Government or private security programs. His research on
civil unrest, transnational criminal organizations, terrorism, and insurgency has involved field studies around the
world as well as numerous publications in scholarly and industry journals.
Email: mscottcat1@yahoo.com