MS-13, known as Mara Salvatrucha, originated decades ago among Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles and has since built a criminal network that extends across the US, with thriving pockets in the Washington, DC, suburbs and on Long Island. The gang is known for extreme violence and sometimes uses machetes in killings and assaults, Sini said. Holding up a machete at the news conference, he said, "This depicts how brutal and savage this group is." Ray Donovan, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office, said MS-13 had 8,000-10,000 members in the US and Europe and 50,000 members in Central America. The use of more than 200 wiretaps authorized by Suffolk County courts helped locate suspects around the world, he said. "For over two years, a wiretap investigation provided critical insight into MS-13's goals of recruitment, expansion, brutality, violence and rule," Donovan said in a news release. "This tool resulted in hundreds of MS-13 related arrests in New York, El Salvador and Baltimore; thwarted murders, robberies, beatings; and helped locate three murder victims' remains." The investigation was conducted by a multi-agency collaboration, according to the Sini. It included members from the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the New York State Police, the Suffolk County Police Department, and several others.