Federal authorities are hailing Operation Devil Horns as a historic blow to the ultra‑violent MS‑13 gang, after a sweeping, multi‑year investigation led to the arrest of more than 3,000 suspected members and associates across the United States and Central America.

Coordinated by the FBI and ICE Homeland Security Investigations, the operation spanned 12 countries, with dawn raids hitting safe houses, stash locations and alleged command nodes from Long Island and Los Angeles to San Salvador and Tegucigalpa. In the U.S. alone, over 1,500 suspects now face charges ranging from racketeering and drug trafficking to murder, kidnapping and sex trafficking.

Agents say they recovered assault rifles, machetes, encrypted phones and detailed “tax” ledgers documenting years of extortion targeting immigrant shopkeepers and construction workers. Prosecutors have unsealed sweeping RICO indictments that they claim decapitate key “cliques” responsible for a surge in brutal, high‑profile killings.

For communities long terrorized by MS‑13 graffiti and late‑night gunfire, today’s images of tattooed gang leaders in shackles feel like a turning point. Yet experts warn that arrests alone cannot erase the pipeline of poverty, corruption and broken asylum systems that allowed the gang to grow in the first place.

As politicians rush to claim credit and demand even tougher measures, one question looms over the headlines: will Operation Devil Horns mark the beginning of the end for MS‑13’s reign of fear — or just the latest round in a war that keeps shifting but never truly ends?