However, it was not until October 2013 that the gang hit national headlines when Milan’s police launched operation “Mareros,” which brought twenty-five MS13 members residing between Lombardy and Piedmont behind bars on charges of robbery, assault and weapons possession. While the first episode of serious violence between the two Salvadoran gangs occurred in July 2008, the gang had been active in the previous years in Milan and one of its “bases” was a “pupusa” bar not far from Ravizza park, in the city’s south side. The MS-13 evolution in Milan and Lombardy region

The case consequently raised a series of questions, for instance, why would MS13 members want to murder one of the historical founders of Milan’s clicque? Was Necio (who was 34 at the time of death) trying to distance himself from the gang? Was the murder a direct consequence of internal issues? It’s hard to say right now, but the concern that the homicide was commissioned abroad, maybe in El Salvador, is strong and specifically due to its extremely violent dynamics. The investigation established that Necio’s murder had occurred two months before, on January 13th and three Salvadoran citizens between the ages of 22 and 34 were arrested for the crime, all three MS13 members, while a fourth man, also from El Salvador, was arrested for facilitating the murder by driving Necio and the killers to the crime scene.Īccording to reconstructions, Necio had been drawn into a trap by his fellow gang members, driven into an isolated area and murdered with dynamics that are more common to the violent streets of El Salvador, rather than to one of Europe’s fashion capitals. Several months before the soccer game confrontation, Necio had also suffered knife wounds as a result of a fight between MS13 and Latin Kings Chicago that had taken place in one of Milan’s many Latino discos.Īlmost eleven years later, on March 9th 2019, Necio’s body was found inside a makeshift grave in the fields of San Giuliano, in the southern outskirts of Milan he had been severely beaten and stabbed to death. One of the Barrio 18 members, 24-year-old Ricardo Gomez, was attacked with a machete and permanently lost the use of one eye.Īmong the MS13 members charged for the attack was Ernesto Odir Barrientos Tula, known on the street as “Necio”, and already behind bars for armed robbery when prosecutors issued the arrest warrant. The violence broke out during a soccer game organized by the Salvadoran community at the “Forza e Coraggio” recreational sports center in via Gallura, in the city’s south side. It was back in July 2008 when members of two different Salvadoran street-gangs, MS13 and Barrio 18, clashed for the first time on Italian soil, specifically in Milan, a city that has often been referred to in the media as the European capital of Salvadoran gangs and even became the objective of a documentary released in September of 2018, entitled “Barrio Milano”.

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