Not sure if already well-known, but I decided to learn more about MS-13 and post my results.

Interesting links between El Salvador Civil War, MS-13 and WHINSEC, formally known as SOA, an institute dedicated to giving allied latin americans military training.

Supposedly MS-13 was originally formed for self-protection in LA from other gangs, and morphed into the gang we now know only after leadership from WHINSEC student Ernesto Deras who apparently later found God and left the gang.

And it seems like they're basically the mafia in El Salvador now, publicly shunned and privately supported through dirty politics, funded through old arms deals from civil war aid.