Welcome to the Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums forums.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Correspondent Lisa Ling documented the experience of filming this special from El Salvador to Los Angeles. Below are accounts of some of her chilling experiences, including finding out that she and her crew had been targeted for kidnapping and touring MS-13 controlled territory in Los Angeles with an active MS-13 member.
LISA LING:
Growing up in Los Angeles, it’s hard not to notice the graffiti that covers the sides of buildings, walls, fences and trucks in many parts of the city. It looks like meaningless scribble, but it’s used to mark territory. Though it is home to Hollywood and the entertainment industry, large swaths of the city are also claimed by violent street gangs. If you’re a gangster and walk into territory claimed by a rival gang, you could be shot to death without question.
Although there are over 100 known gangs in L.A., my encounters with gangsters had been pretty limited. I thought I could identify them by their shaved heads, baggy pants and tattoos, but then “gangsta” style became cool and it became impossible to single out individuals as bonafide “bangers.” A gang called “White Fence” controlled the area where I was working in the ‘90s. I’d also known about the gangs plaguing the L.A. streets, particularly the big ones like the “Bloods,” “Crips” and “18th Street.” I recall hearing about a small Salvadoran gang with a really long name – Mara Salvatrucha – that was considered somewhat insignificant relative to the bigger more established gangs. For those reasons, law enforcement paid little attention to it and focused their efforts at suppressing other gangs. Big Mistake.
In a very short period of time, Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, has arguably become the biggest and most dangerous gang in the world.
How can you avoid it when it coming to a neighborhood near you. Highlight video?LOL Its called journalism. It needs to be reported just like the war in Iraq, but its a war closer to home.
Im not talking about the documentary, thats fine and interesting.
There is a clip before the documentary that is a FUCKING HIGHLIGHT VIDEO. It contains some shitty music with pictures of gang members showing their tats and flashing gang symbols.
That shit is not journalism. Thats motherfucking mental retardation. Sorry for bringing this attitude to the mayberry but seriously; this type of shit is fucking so moronic no words can describe...
Im not talking about the documentary, thats fine and interesting.
There is a clip before the documentary that is a FUCKING HIGHLIGHT VIDEO. It contains some shitty music with pictures of gang members showing their tats and flashing gang symbols.
That shit is not journalism. Thats motherfucking mental retardation. Sorry for bringing this attitude to the mayberry but seriously; this type of shit is fucking so moronic no words can describe...
Oh I take it back then, I completely skipped over that and went straight to the documentary.
