Special Agent Michael Santini offers an inside account of the takedown of MS-13 in San Franciscoone of the largest federal takedowns of a criminal gang in U.S. history.In a bid to take down MS-13s criminal network in the Mission District of San Francisco, Michael Santini, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, recruits a pair of hardened gang members and convinces them to risk their lives as criminal informants. Set in a city with one of the strictest sanctuary policies protecting illegal immigrants in America,Operation Devil Horns illustrates how politically correct ideology impacts life-or-death crime fighting on the streets.Through the informants eyes,Operation Devil Horns offers a rare glimpse into the pervasive criminal subculture of MS-13, a gang of Spanish-speaking immigrants that still terrorizes pockets of American society today including their own compatriots. The case begins with a focus on the gang in San Francisco, eventually widening to include a network that reaches across borders. Santini tracks down the gangs leadership from the Bay Area to the prison cells of corrupt Central American regimes. Eventually, it takes the cold-blooded murder of three family members in San Francisco to shake the American public out of complacency and focus sober attention on a growing and violent threat.This is the story of a dedicated team of special agents, federal prosecutors, and local police who overcome political and legal challenges to take down more than two dozen violent criminal targets.

Michael Santini is the penname of a career special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. He previously served as a border patrol agent in San Diego, California. For his work as lead case agent on Operation Devil Horns, Michael received a distinguished service medal from the U.S. Attorney General. He has a masters degree in criminal justice from John Jay College in New York.Ray Bolger is a journalist with over twenty years of experience covering business, technology, finance, government, and crime. His published articles have appeared in many leading outlets includingThe Baltimore Sun,The Philadelphia Inquirer,The Hill, andForbes magazine.

AcknowledgmentsPreludePART IChapter 1: Operation Card SharkChapter 2: Diego Gets ArrestedChapter 3: First Collaboration with SFPDChapter 4: Turning an InformantChapter 5: Clueless in San FranciscoChapter 6: Informant 1301 Dives InChapter 7: Meetup at Tommys JoyntChapter 8: Peloncito Threatens TigreChapter 9: Hell in HondurasChapter 10: Casper Turns RattaChapter 11: Making the Case in D.C.Chapter 12: Cyco and Peloncito on the RiseChapter 13: The Cagey Coke KingChapter 14: Tracking Guns in RenoChapter 15: SuccessChapter 16: Foiled StingChapter 17: Growing PressurePART IIChapter 18: A Proven ProsecutorChapter 19: Devil Horns GrowsChapter 20: 20th Street Power ShiftChapter 21: Outside the Lines in El SalChapter 22: Diego ReturnsChapter 23: Norteño War Heats UpChapter 24: Drive-By Horror: The Final StrawChapter 25: Human Hunters Increase the HeatChapter 26: Sanctuary City in PanicChapter 27: Green-Light for TakedownChapter 28: Zero HourEpilogue