In N.Va. Gang, A Brutal Sense Of Belonging

The young men came back a few minutes later and disappeared into the giant apartment complex, he said.

A block up the street, a 16-year-old cried for help.

The wiry, dark-haired youth had been walking that night and "just ran into some MS guys," he later said in a brief interview. Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the youth and two friends taunted the MS-13 members, including Flores. The gang members ducked into an apartment to pick up machetes and set out in pursuit, catching the youth, the officials said.

As the machetes started swinging, the 16-year-old threw up his hands to shield his head. "I was just protecting myself," he said later.

One machete sliced through the fingers of his right hand, in a fleshy area near the palm. Then the blade crashed through the knuckles of the left hand. The severed fingers dangled by a wisp of skin.

The boy was rushed to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where Khalique Zahir, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, was able to re-attach four fingers on the right hand, but could only save the thumb on the left hand.

During surgery, the doctor said he noticed what appeared to be tattoo marks on the boy's hands. According to friends of the victim, they were the initials SSL -- South Side Locos, the second-largest gang in Northern Virginia, with as many as 1,500 members. South Side Locos is locked in a bitter rivalry with MS-13.

The boy said in the interview that he had no such tattoos. His parents, Salvadoran immigrants, have said their son is not in a gang.

Police have said the attackers did not appear to be targeting the boy's hands for mutilation. But Zahir said it was possible that the left hand was pulled out straight so the fingers could be chopped off.

"I can't imagine someone going through that kind of suffering," the doctor said.

Nor can many people.

Scores of gang crimes occur in the metro area each year. But it was the hands that the public has remembered. After the attack, calls poured into Virginia government offices from communities alarmed about gangs. Adding to the sense of urgency, a 17-year-old was shot to death several days later in Herndon by a bicyclist with "MS" tattooed on his forehead.

Politicians responded quickly to the outcry. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) lined up $500,000 in funds to combat gangs in Northern Virginia, in addition to more than $1 million provided this year. A congressional committee promised to fund a new National Gang Intelligence Center. The Virginia legislature approved a request by Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) for more than $1 million for new prosecutors and an anti-gang strike force.

Even with such resources, it will be difficult to weaken gangs that wrap their followers in a cocoon of love and power and fun and fear. Consider Flores' loyalty.

Gang-related charges could keep him behind bars for decades. But shortly after he was admitted to the Fairfax County jail, he got hold of something sharp -- perhaps the zipper of his jumpsuit, or a piece of metal in his plastic inmate's bracelet, sheriffs' deputies said.

In his cell, sheriff's deputies said, he carved a powerful symbol into the window.

"MS-13."

Staff writers Maria Glod, Tom Jackman and Ian Shapira contributed to this report.