Officials: Gangs target potential young recruits online
<p>Law enforcement officials say gangs are targeting potential young recruits online through social media and YouTube. Detective Sgt. Michael Marino, of Nassau's Gang Investigations Unit, says people should "not get involved in liking or commenting" gang propaganda videos. </p>
News 12 Staff
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May 2, 2017, 11:05 PM
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Updated 2,560 days ago
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Law enforcement officials say gangs are targeting potential young recruits online through social media and YouTube.
Detective Sgt. Michael Marino, of Nassau's Gang Investigations Unit, says people should "not get involved in liking or commenting" gang propaganda videos.
"There nothing positive that's going to come from that," he says.
Back in March, federal prosecutors said MS-13 members used social media to intimidate two Brentwood high school teens who were later murdered.
"Kayla Cuevas was marked for death because she had feuded in school and over social media with various members of MS-13," said U.S. Attorney Robert Capers.
Marino recommends that parents and guardians should be "a little bit intrusive into their [children's] browsing history."
News 12 asked authorities if there's been any effort to shut down Facebook gang pages or YouTube channels. They said that such content is generally protected by the First Amendment.
