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Everybody hates the buzzing sound that <keyword id="6418922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mosquitoes">mosquitoes</keyword> make. Mosquitoes not only cause itching on the <keyword id="6371970" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="skin">skin</keyword> but also carry <keyword id="6393040" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="infection">infection</keyword> with them. There are many ways by which you can protect yourself from a mosquito bite out of which mosquito rackets are one of the best solutions. They are effective in killing mosquitoes and are easy to use. The electric nature allows you to recharge when it runs out of charge and lets you stay away from toxic coils and liquids. To help you out, we have curated a list of the best mosquito rackets.<br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07S5FBY3J" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07S5FBY3J_head"><div type="image" title="Long Battery life" msid="84012477" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07S5FBY3J</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07S5FBY3J_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07S5FBY3J_8538351438252965"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">HIT Anti Mosquito Racquet - Rechargeable Insect Killer Bat</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Get rid of mosquitoes with this mosquito racquet from Hit. The racquet is said to retain the charge for up to 1 month after being fully charged. It is claimed to be made from aircraft-grade ABS plastic that makes it strong and durable. The unique shape helps to kill mosquitoes from the corners. Its in-built LED light should help you kill mosquitoes even in the dark.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07S5FBY3J_9482359023065813"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Its unique shape makes it easy to kill mosquitoes from the corners.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B096Y8W1CR" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B096Y8W1CR_head"><div type="image" title="Lightweight" msid="84012495" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B096Y8W1CR</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B096Y8W1CR_body"><bulletContentRow name="B096Y8W1CR_7047404644356560"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">WEIRD WOLF Heavy-Duty COB Light Mosquito Bat Racket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This mosquito bat racquet from Weird Wolf features a strong triple-layered mesh design that allows a larger area to kill mosquitoes. The rechargeable battery of 500mAh helps to store the battery for up to 1 month of standby. The ABS plastic used should make it lightweight and durable. The LED light allows you to kill mosquitoes even in dark places. It comes with a detachable charging cable that makes it convenient to use.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B096Y8W1CR_1189272206908923"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Its lightweight make it easy to carry and use.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07W4XFKF9" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07W4XFKF9_head"><div type="image" title="3-layered Mesh" msid="84012511" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07W4XFKF9</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07W4XFKF9_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07W4XFKF9_7261484557069483"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Pick Ur Needs ® Best High Range Mosquito Racket/Bat</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This mosquito racket from Pick Ur Needs features a high coil net that allows you to kill mosquitoes effectively with its 5000V power. The three-layered mesh makes it safe for humans and pets from power shock. The LED light makes it easy to work in the dark. To get a long battery life and effective results, it requires a prior charge of 6-8 hours.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07W4XFKF9_9177823926858809"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The in-built LED light makes it comfortable to use in the dark as well.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B08RBVM728" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08RBVM728_head"><div type="image" title="Micro USB Port" msid="84012575" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08RBVM728</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08RBVM728_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08RBVM728_8981600144988534"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">CTB PLSUPREME Mosquito Racket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This CTB PLSUPREME mosquito racket claims to kill mosquitoes instantly with its 2500 DC voltage discharge. It comes with a rechargeable micro and DC USB port that allows you to charge conveniently. The plastic material body should make it strong and the three net protection makes it safe to use. Also, the in-built LED light helps you to use it in the dark.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08RBVM728_0239135775608249"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The USB port makes it comfortable and easy to charge.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B08B3ZMXY2" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08B3ZMXY2_head"><div type="image" title="Lithium Battery" msid="84012603" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08B3ZMXY2</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08B3ZMXY2_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08B3ZMXY2_9219292610679617"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">YAGE by Rozzby <keyword id="6979206" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mosquito-killer">Mosquito Killer</keyword> Racket with USB Charging</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This modernly designed mosquito racket from Yage features a wide net that helps cover large areas for easy killing, even from corners. It claims to kill mosquitoes instantly with its 3100V power supply and has a lithium battery of 1200mAh for long battery life. The three-layered protective net helps you stay safe from shock. The aircraft-grade ABS plastic makes it durable and strong.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08B3ZMXY2_1486516950720652"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The long battery life allows it to stay charged for up to 60 days of standby.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B08XZ39KR3" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08XZ39KR3_head"><div type="image" title="Detachable Charger" msid="84012626" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08XZ39KR3</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08XZ39KR3_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08XZ39KR3_0915090179289116"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Mr Right High Range Rechargeable Electric Mosquito Bat</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This high voltage triple mesh mosquito racket from Mr Right allows you to kill mosquitoes effectively with 2500V DC voltage discharge in no time. The long-lasting 20hours LED light's tendency helps to use it even in darker places. The easy to detach charger should make it convenient to use. The single charge of 5000mAh rechargeable battery makes it last for up to a month on standby. The high-grade plastic material makes the racket durable.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08XZ39KR3_6454954741125834"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The triple mesh helps you stay protected from getting a power shock.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br />

Mosquito killer rackets in India

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An amateur team of international code breakers cracked one of the Zodiac Killer's most infamous messages, the "340 Cipher" sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969, according to the FBI.</li><li>The FBI's San Francisco Branch <a href="https://twitter.com/FBISanFrancisco/status/1337477701825925120">reacted</a> to the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> in a statement, writing that it was aware that "The cipher was recently solved by a team of three private citizens."</li><li>The Zodiac Killer, who earned the title due to the use of astrological symbols in messages, is responsible for killing as many as 37 in the San Francisco area and wrote, "I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me."</li></ul><p>An international crew of amateur code breakers has deciphered a 340-character message from the Zodiac Killer, one of the US' most infamous serial killers, the <a href="http://www.zodiackillerciphers.com/">code-breakers said</a> and the FBI acknowledged.</p><p>The killer, who sent cryptic messages to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 as well as to police departments, claimed responsibility for killing as many as 37 in the San Francisco area. The moniker "Zodiac Killer" was given after the killer included astrological symbols and references in his messages.</p><p>Until now, experts had not cracked the codes.</p><p>Fifty-one years later, enter American cryptographer David Oranchak, Australian software engineer Sam Blake, and Belgian software engineer Jarl Van. The trio helped piece together different symbols, letters, and numbers to surface a digestible version of one of the most notable and certifiably eerie messages sent by the killer.</p><p>"I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE," the killer allegedly wrote in the message sent to the San Francisco Chronicle.</p><p>There was no clear confirmation of which TV show the Zodiac Killer referenced, or whether there was any significance to the spelling of "paradice."</p><p>"ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH," the killer said, according to the code breakers.</p><p>On Friday, the FBI <a href="https://twitter.com/FBISanFrancisco/status/1337477701825925120">reacted</a> to the news in a statement, writing that it was aware that "The cipher was recently solved by a team of three private citizens," and adding that its Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU) confirmed that the code breakers worked out the message.</p><p>"Over the past 51 years CRRU has reviewed numerous proposed solutions from the public - none of which had merit," the FBI said. The FBI added that the investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains an ongoing case in its San Francisco branch. </p><p>"The Zodiac Killer terrorized multiple communities across Northern California and even though decades have gone by, we continue to seek justice for the victims of these brutal crimes. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time," the FBI said.</p><p>In December 1968, a year before the deciphered message was sent, the Zodiac Killer is believed to have killed two teenagers on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, and later shot a couple in July 1969 in their car in Vallejo, California, killing one of the victims. Within the same year, at least two more murders were attributed to the Zodiac Killer in San Francisco and Napa Valley.</p><p>The Zodiac Killer has never been caught, and investigators were hopeful that one of the ciphers would reveal the killer's name, but the message did not help in that regard.</p>

Private citizens decode the Zodiac Killer's '340 Cipher' 51 years after it was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, FBI confirms

Made Men: A photo tour of the most notorious sites of New York Mafia history - and what they look like now

Cape Town, May 18 (AP) Preston's new face mask is emblazoned with the stars and stripes of the US flag.<p>While protecting him from the coronavirus, it would normally also put him in danger in Manenberg, one of a number of violent and poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Cape Town known as the Cape Flats. The mask's colors identify Preston as a member of the Americans, a criminal gang usually unwelcome on the turf of the rival Hard Livings gang.</p><p>"They'd shoot me," the 35-year-old says with what appears to be a smile, his eyes crinkling.</p><p>But today, he's working side-by-side with other notorious gang members to deliver bread, flour and vegetables to poor families who are struggling during South Africa's coronavirus lockdown, which has closed industries and left many in Manenberg without work.</p><p>Preston stands in a courtyard with the other gang members amid an unlikely truce, bowing his head as Danny, a senior member of the Hard Livings, says a prayer. Caps are removed and tattooed arms are held behind backs.</p><p>"We (the gangs) did decide to work together to help," Danny said. "And we have got no problem (with each other), you see. No problem." The project was started by Andie Steele-Smith, an Australian known as the "gang pastor." They ride in the back of his pickup truck and trailer, leaping off to carry items to homes and soup kitchens.</p><p>Steele-Smith said that "as soon as these guys were given an opportunity to do something good, they grabbed the opportunity with both hands and are just wringing it for everything they can." The gangs also benefit, getting some food as well as the chance to stay relevant in tough times. They also seem to enjoy the role of modern-day Robin Hoods.</p><p>Still, these men are drug dealers and many are killers. A lot of them have tattoos that identify them as members of prison "Numbers" gangs, which experts say are far more violent.</p><p>One who doesn't think much of their good deeds is J.P. Smith, who works in the mayor's office of Cape Town in charge of safety and security. He says their real business is murder, extortion, trafficking in drugs and guns, protection rackets and corrupting police and judges, noting there were 900 gang-related killings in the Cape Town area last year.</p><p>"None of that goes away because the gangsters suddenly pretend to do something nice," Smith said. "The trauma they've inflicted on communities for decades won't be forgotten for a couple of loaves of bread." Manenberg resident Cristal van Rensburg says two cousins were killed by gang members, with one shot 30 times in the face and chest. Her brother and other relatives also are in gangs, and she says she often sees her cousins' killers on the street.</p><p>"In the beginning it was difficult," she said. "It's not a good feeling to lose someone and know that person who hurt your family is walking past you every day. </p><p>You see in Manenberg, that's part of life." Despite its beauty, Cape Town was ranked last year as the 11th most-dangerous city in the world. According to the Mexico City-based Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, which compiled the list, Cape Town had 2,868 homicides in 2018, the second-most on the list behind Caracas, Venezuela.</p><p>An attempted truce has accompanied the food distribution, and Smith said police have reported a decrease in trouble in Manenberg in recent weeks.But the grim reality is still evident.</p><p>During the food delivery, the pickup truck encounters people who say a man has been stabbed to death, and the victim is a member of a gang known as the Clever Kidz.</p><p>Santjie, a local leader of the gang who is riding on Steele-Smith's truck, had earlier made a comment that has become suddenly relevant: "Life here is very quick. It's very quick." Residents of Manenberg seem to live either in government-built housing blocks called "the courts" or in haphazard houses on unmarked streets.</p>The headquarters of the Americans is a multistory labyrinth with "Welcome 2 United States" scrawled on it. Across the street is more graffiti, misspelled and perhaps mistaken: "God loves Manenburg." The neighborhood was created by South Africa's apartheid government in the 1960s as a dumping ground for poor non-whites who were evicted from Cape Town's prime land. Steele-Smith describes it as "forgotten" and lacking hope. (AP) CPS

Gangs deliver food in poor Cape Town area amid lockdown

The night the Lord of the Skies got away

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Bags of heroin, laced with fentanyl.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Two Alabama doctors <a href="http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2017/02/mobile_doctors_found_guilty_in.html">face up to 20 years in prison for running an opioid</a> "pill mill" out of their two mobile clinics.</p><p>On Thursday <span>Dr. Xiulu Ruan and <span>Dr. John Patrick Couch</span></span> were found guilty of over-prescribing addictive and sometimes deadly pain killers to their patients, receiving illegal kickbacks from drugmaker Insys Therapeutics, and engaging in insurance fraud.</p><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdal/pr/two-mobile-pain-doctors-arrested-drug-and-fraud-charges">The doctors were arrested back in 2015</a> in an ongoing, wide-ranging investigation called "Operation Pilluted," federal <keyword id="6355470" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Law">law</keyword> enforcement's answer to the America's precription drug epidemic.</p><p>Insys makes fentanyl, one of the opioids Couch and Ruan were pushing on patients who didn't need them. In fact, it's only supposed to be prescribed to cancer patients.</p><p>Other drugs the doctors pushed included<span> oxycodone (brand name: Oxycontin), oxycodone hydrochloride (brand name: Roxicodone), oxymorphone (brand name: Opana), hydromorphone (brand name: Dilaudid), morphine, and methadone, according to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdal/pr/two-mobile-pain-doctors-arrested-drug-and-fraud-charges">Department of Justice.</a></span></p><p>A big reason why this was all possible was because the doctors owned their own pharmacy called <span>C&amp;R Pharmacy</span>. There, patients were able to fill prescriptions over and over again without anyone batting an eye. </p><p>At the same time, doctors were ripping off health insurance companies by ordering patients to take unnecessary, expensive urine tests. They also would claim that doctors had seen patients when they had actually been seen by nurse practitioners. Claiming that a doctor had seen a patient made the session more expensive.</p><p><span>The entire two month trial wasn't just about fraud either, it was about a culture of drug addiction. Not only were the patients being over-prescribed opioids, but employees at the clinics were also stealing them and taking them on the job too, </span><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2504504/15-88-redacted.pdf">according to the government's complaint.</a></p><p>Both Ruan and Couch made around $40 million with this scam. They will now have to pay the government $5 million in cash and give up property purchased with their ill gotten gains. Ruan also forfeited 20 luxury sports cars including<span> two Ferraris and two Lamborghinis, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alabama-doctors-convicted-in-health-care-fraud-case-1487893757">according to the WSJ.</a> They will be sentenced sometime in May.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><h1>Insisting on damage</h1><p>There's another feature of the drug industry on trial here too, and that's the practice of pharmaceutical companies paying doctors to make speeches endorsing their products.</p><p><span>Back in February of 2016, an Insys sales rep named <span>Natalie Perhacs</span> pled guilty to paying kickbacks to Couch and Ruan. She disguised those payments as speaker fees as part of the company's speakers bureau of doctors, and said she was under constant pressure from management to book the doctors for speaking engagements.</span></p><p><span>Perhacs also testified that company executives met with the doctors back in 2014.</span></p><p>A year later, a Connecticut nurse practitioner participating in the speakers bureau pled guilty to engaging in a similar kickback scheme with Insys.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Jonathan Roper Fernando Serrano walk with Serrano's lawyer Jude Cardenas after they pleaded not guilty in Manhattan New York</p></div><p></p></div></div>And <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-insys-ceo-arrested-in-opioid-prescription-kickback-case-1481228056">back in December, 10 former employees</a> including the company's former CEO, who met with Ruan and Couch, were arrested on charges of racketeering, paying kick backs, and insurance fraud.</p><p>For Insys, none of this over - not by a long shot. Here are a bunch of ongoing investigations the company disclosed in its annual report:</p><p id="PARA8560" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><strong><em>State Related Investigations.</em></strong> We have received CIDs from each of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Arizona, ODOJ, the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois and we have also received a subpoena from the Chief Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division of the State of New Hampshire. </span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>In addition, we understand that numerous physicians practicing in New Jersey have received subpoenas from the Department of Justice of the State of New Jersey in connection with these physicians' interactions with our company. These CIDs and subpoenas request documents regarding Subsys, including our sales and marketing practices related to Subsys in the applicable state, as well as our patient services hub. We are cooperating with each of these investigations and have produced documents in response to these CIDs and related requests for information from each office.</span></p><p>Oh, and the company also received requests from the "<span>USAO of Eastern District of Michigan, Rhode Island, Florida (Jacksonville), Connecticut, New Hampshire, Southern District of Alabama regarding specific physicians that we have interacted with in those states."</span></p><p><span>So if you things are ugly now, just wait.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/daymond-john-shark-tank-making-products-in-us-america-cost-consumers-more-2017-2">'Shark Tank' star Daymond John: Making products in the US could cost consumers 25-30% more</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o3NHRsOTE6Tq8UNC-wZYHedd7BWEEtwn" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

2 doctors face up to 20 years in prison for running a $40 million opioid 'pill mill'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>San Salvador (<keyword id="68053" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="AFP">AFP</keyword>) - Jose was 13 when he entered the violent, murky underworld of the "maras," the gangs that have stained Central America's streets in blood.</p>
<p>Like the tens of thousands of young people who have joined these brutal urban tribes, the olive-skinned 26-year-old wears his fate tattooed on his skin -- though his are less visible than many members' full-body tattoos.</p>
<p>Jose, who uses a fake identity to protect himself, says his former gang, Mara Salvatrucha, was his "home."</p>
<p>"The gang is like a family," he told AFP in San Salvador, where he is trying to escape his past by studying and joining an evangelical church.</p>
<p>He used to sell drugs and extort money, and spent time in prison for murder.</p>
<p>"When I was caught up in that, I didn't think about how I was going to leave people's children, wives, mothers, fathers crying," he said.</p>
<p>Death is a way of life for these groups, which have become complex organized crime networks in Central America.</p>
<p>The region now holds four of the top five spots on the list of countries with the highest homicide rates, largely because of the gangs' culture of violence.</p>
<p>The bloodiest gangs are Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, which are organized hierarchically using "clicas" -- cells that ruthlessly control blocks of territory with their own language, rules and moral code.</p>
<h3>- Symbols -</h3>
<p>Their most distinctive traits are tattoos -- often from head to toe -- and their graffiti tags: "Ver, oir y callar" (See, hear and shut up).</p>
<p>But they are using them less and less, to evade the authorities.</p>
<p>"They have their own forms of symbolic communication: written, verbal and kinetic, which are part of a sub-culture with clear traits of an organized structure," said Jaime Martinez, director of El Salvador's Public Safety Academy.</p>
<p>Experts try to decode what's behind these symbols.</p>
<p>An "18," a "13" or an "MS" tattoo is a membership badge; black tears count a killer's hits; crosses count the number of dead comrades; clowns tell of joys and heartbreaks; skulls are a celebration of death.</p>
<p>"Three dots anywhere on the body represent the gangster's life -- in the hospital, in jail or in the cemetery. Graffiti marks a clica's territory," said a Honduran anti-gang policeman, speaking on condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>There are women members, too. Used in extortion rackets and to transport cash, they have to tattoo themselves with their boyfriend's name.</p>
<h3><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">- Rituals -</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></h3>
<p>"Joining a gang is free. It's getting out that's the problem," says Jose. "When you want to quit, they hunt you down and kill you. Not just you but your family too."</p>
<p>The initiation rite is a 13- or 18-second beating, depending on the gang, or else killing an enemy.</p>
<p>"A gangster's not a gangster without a rival, if he's never had a beating and a gun to pull the trigger," said Carlos Menocal, a former interior minister in Guatemala.</p>
<p>The gangsters' language is a window on their world, from the "ranfleros" or "palabreros" (windbags) who give the orders, to the "banderas" (flags) who stand sentry, to the "soldados" (soldiers) who collect extortion money, to the cash itself -- "renta" (rent) or "impuestos de guerra" (war taxes).</p>
<p>Every gang also has its own sign language, according to Menocal.</p>
<p>"The top bosses in prison, the national ranfleros, still give the orders. Someone outside tells them what's happening. The clica bosses have a meeting every week to plan killings and extortions... everything. Everyone's got a day-to-day mission," said Jose.</p>
<p>When their shake-downs and shootouts scare the neighbors away, gang members move into those homes or use them to run operations and torture enemies -- they call them "destroyer houses" or "crazy houses."</p>
<p>"Every gangster gets money each week to buy food, clothes and bring around family members," said Jose.</p>
<p>They used to wear baggy clothes but are increasingly keeping a low profile.</p>
<p>And they have guns of virtually every kind.</p>
<p>"They love nine-millimeter pistols, AK-47s, 12-gauge shotguns, which they can get quickly on the black market," said Menocal.</p>
<p>Fed by poverty, weak government and the break-up of the traditional family, Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 emerged in the 1980s in Los Angeles's Latino neighborhoods.</p>
<p>They arrived in Central America when the United States deported thousands of immigrants who had fled there to escape the civil wars that gripped the region in the late 20th century.</p>
<p>"We went from a Cold War between the army and the guerrillas to the post-war era and now another Cold War. But this time society's at war with itself," said Jose.</p>
<p>The "maras" -- short for "marabunta," an anthill that devours everything around it -- have some 100,000 members in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and are constantly recruiting.</p>
<p>"The gangster lives for the moment," says Jose, the only one of the 19 comrades in his clica who is still alive.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>

You Searched For "killer rackets" and got 7 results

Mosquito killer rackets in India

Shradha Aneja

Private citizens decode the Zodiac Killer's '340 Cipher' 51 years after it was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, FBI confirms

Azmi Haroun

Made Men: A photo tour of the most notorious sites of New York Mafia history - and what they look like now

Andrew Lichtenstein

Gangs deliver food in poor Cape Town area amid lockdown

PTI

The night the Lord of the Skies got away

Noah Hurowitz

2 doctors face up to 20 years in prison for running a $40 million opioid 'pill mill'

Linette Lopez

An Inside Look At The Bloody Underworld Of Central America's Gangs

AFP

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