MS-13 and "Bad Clowns"

My most recent book Bad Clowns includes several chapters on real-life scary clowns, and in chapter 9 (“Creepy, Criminal, and Killer Clowns”) I have a section on “a clown-related gang whose threat is both very real and internationally known. It is the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, a criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s and has since spread to Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Consisting primarily of about seventy thousand members (mostly from El Salvador), the gang is notorious not only for their extreme brutality and cruelty, but also for their extensive, ornate tattoos, which often include clown faces and masks... Members of the Mara Salvatrucha have been found in Toronto, Canada, and the Canada Border Services Agency issued a handbook on gang tattoos to help its law enforcement officers identify members.”

I had originally hoped to interview members of MS-13 and so posted a note on my Facebook page asking if anyone knew how to get in touch with members. Many FB friends thought I was joking, but I wasn’t.

True, MS-13 were known to be brutal, but presumably a few members might be willing to talk to me anonymously as a journalist—assuming I stuck to innocuous questions about tattoos and didn’t inquire about any other activity. I wasn’t selling drugs on their turf, recruiting rivals, or trying to infiltrate their organization for the FBI; I just wanted to know about their ink.

A friend of mine in Los Angeles mentioned that he knew a guy who knew a guy who might know a guy involved in MS-13, and I asked him to try and make a connection and inquire on my behalf. The interview never materialized, however, and in the end while I’d have liked to get a first-hand source (and/or some really interesting evil clown art), it wasn’t really necessary for the chapter. Maybe if the book goes to a second edition...