Gang Banging
P-I Fans Flames of Gang Hysteria
BY ANGELA VALDEZ
On October 4, 2004, 18-year-old Antonio Pinto was shot and killed in broad daylight in an alley in South Park. Within days, police had identified a suspect, Wilber Jose Sorto, a suspected member of the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Sorto, now 25, is scheduled to go on trial for murder this week. Back in 2004, Sorto evaded authorities with flair. He might have slipped away entirely had he not gotten spooked by two immigration officials visiting a Federal Way address on an unrelated matter a full two weeks after the shooting. He engaged in a brief gun battle with one official and escaped, making it all the way to Southern California. Five days later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested him outside a restaurant in L.A.
In court documents, Sorto's crime is described as a ruthless, violent execution. Police say he chased Pinto, who also had a lengthy rap sheet, trapped him in an alley, and shot him repeatedly in the body and face. In interviews with police, Sorto's own sisters confirmed his membership in Mara Salvatrucha, a gang whose much-anticipated spread through the United States has been widely doubted.
gangs are everywhere....I see a gang of 13's in west and south seattle now,5-10 years ago....nada
