Operation Devil Horns

The Takedown of MS-13 in San Francisco

by Michael Santini and Ray Bolger

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Pub Date Oct 08 2018 | Archive Date Oct 08 2018

Rowman & Littlefield

Nonfiction (Adult) | True Crime

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Description

In a bid to take down MS-13’s criminal network in the Mission District of San Francisco, Michael Santini, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, recruits a pair of hardened gang members and convinces them to risk their lives as criminal informants. Set in a city with one of the strictest sanctuary policies protecting illegal immigrants in America, Operation Devil Horns illustrates how politically correct ideology impacts life-or-death crime fighting on the streets.

Through the informants’ eyes, Operation Devil Horns offers a rare glimpse into the pervasive criminal subculture of MS-13, a gang of Spanish-speaking immigrants that still terrorizes pockets of American society today – including their own compatriots. The case begins with a focus on the gang in San Francisco, eventually widening to include a network that reaches across borders. Santini tracks down the gang’s leadership from the Bay Area to the prison cells of corrupt Central American regimes. Eventually, it takes the cold-blooded murder of three family members in San Francisco to shake the American public out of complacency and focus sober attention on a growing and violent threat.

This is the story of a dedicated team of special agents, federal prosecutors, and local police who overcome political and legal challenges to take down more than two dozen violent criminal targets. It is the true story of will and determination for justice over passive acceptance of wanton violence, a case of victorious commitment to public safety over misguided political correctness.

Michael Santini is the penname of a career special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. He previously served as a border patrol agent in San Diego, California. For his work as lead case agent on Operation Devil Horns, Michael received a distinguished service medal from the U.S. Attorney General. He has a master’s degree in criminal justice from John Jay College in New York.

Ray Bolger is a journalist with over twenty years of experience covering business, technology, finance, government, and crime. His published articles have appeared in many leading outlets including The Baltimore Sun, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hill, and Forbes magazine.

In a bid to take down MS-13’s criminal network in the Mission District of San Francisco, Michael Santini, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, recruits a pair of hardened gang...

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Advance Praise

What reads like a work of fiction, so vivid and fantastic is the account of this crusade against MS-13 in San Francisco’s Mission District, is, in fact, the story of one investigator’s Herculean effort to marshal federal. State and local law enforcement resources to take on and defeat a criminal syndicate as sophisticated as La Cosa Nostra was in its prime, as vicious as any terrorist group and as menacing and dangerous as any subversive organization this nation has ever seen, a victory that was all the more extraordinary given that it played out against the backdrop of a political establishment more concerned with promoting sanctuary for illegal alien criminals than protecting the general public from harm. “Operation Devil Horns” is a must read for anyone who thinks they know how MS-13 operates, the threat it poses, and what can and must be done to destroy it.
— Joseph P. Russoniello, Former United States Attorney, Northern District of California

Operation Devil Horns is a real-life thriller, taking you inside the savage world of MS-13 in San Francisco -- but they are no match for a smart and audacious ICE agent, who also has to fight local sanctuary politics to get the job done. This book couldn’t be more timely, as MS-13 has regained a foothold in many American communities, and ICE is again contending with interference from foolish and misguided pro-sanctuary politicians. Read it for the great story, send it to your member of congress, and then go thank your local ICE office for what they do every day to keep us all safe.
— Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies