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LOS ANGELES , May 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. federal and Los Angeles law enforcement agencies launched one of the largest-ever raids against the international crime organization M-13 here Wednesday, netting 21 important members of the gang.


They mobilized tactical and SWAT teams to serve dozens of warrants in more than 50 locations of the city Wednesday morning.


According to a statement issued by Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra Brown, there was a 127-page anti-racketeering and murdering indictment targeting 44 gang members of M-13 and its associations, including an ex-leader of a Los Angeles faction of the gang.


Among the 21 members arrested on Wednesday, three were accused of murder and could face the death penalty.


Many of the 44 defendants had stayed in the country illegally , the statement said, but it did not disclose which countries the gang members targeted in the indictment were from and how long they had been in the United States.


MS-13 or Mara Salvatrucha, a notorious gang, reportedly founded in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s by Salvadoran immigrants, soon developed into a transnational organization and spread all over North America.