Police in New York have been put on high alert after vicious street gang MS-13 told its members to ‘take out a cop’.
Officers in Hempstead, a town in Long Island, New York were tipped off about the terrifying directive by an informant.
According to an NYPD memo, they are also hunting the man who is thought to have put out the hit order.
Four unidentified members of the street gang MS-13 show their tattoos, a trademark of the criminal group that is thought to be at least 20,000 strong
The memo describes the suspected gang leader as a tall, light-skinned Hispanic man with a thin build and a tattoo of three dots next to his eye.
The NYPD memo was obtained by the New York Post.
The authorities received the tip-off from a ‘credible informant’ who claims he was told by the gang member that they wanted to kill an officer in the Hempstead area.
The gang emerged in the 1980s on the streets of LA from Salvadoran immigrants fresh from the country’s civil war
MS-13 is known to kill its victims with baseball bats and machetes, pictured are alleged gang members in San Salvador in 2016
The gang apparently wants to make a ‘statement’ to the authorities.
The memo claims that the suspect said: ‘The police have been making too many arrests and it’s time to take the streets back and take out a cop like we do in El Salvador.’
According to the informant, any member of MS-13 has permission to carry out an attack.
The street gang was started by veterans of El Salvador’s civil war who had moved to California in the 1980s.
It now has around 20,000 members active in 46 states and has been designated as the first international criminal group.
A New York police source said they were already wary of the gang, especially in areas with a high presence of members.
Another police source said the warning should be heeded by officers throughout the country, since as the gang is so widespread.
‘You have a license plate that says FOP [Fraternal Order of Police]. You might wear a T-shirt that says what precinct you work in,’ the source said.
‘A cop’s a cop. They don’t know who you work for. FOP is for everybody.’
The notorious Central American street gang is famed for its heavily tattooed members and torturing its victims.
As well as shootings, MS-13 is known to kill its victims with baseball bats and machetes.
Police and federal investigators believe they have a presence in 46 states as well as Mexico, Canada and Spain.
The notorious street gang is famed for its heavily tattooed members and has members active in 46 states in the US