San Francisco MS-13 Gang Wasn't Violent Enough for Edwin Ramos

​Edwin Ramos is a toxic name in San Francisco. He's the Salvadorean man accused of killing an innocent father and his two sons in the Excelsior neighborhood in 2008, setting off a nationwide blow-back against San Francisco's sanctuary city policy. Ramos is facing state charges and is scheduled for trial in San Francisco Superior Court in June.

Even his own attorney, Marla Zamora, says some friends have spurned her for defending Ramos.

Ramos was not included when the feds' indicted the MS-13 gang for racketeering conspiracy in 2008. But new details about him have emerged during the federal trial of seven accused gangsters -- the subject of our cover story today.
Abraham Martinez, an ex-MS-13 member, testified against his former homeys in the trial earlier this month. He said that Ramos had been a member of the transnational gang's 20th Street Clique in the Mission, going by the moniker "Popeye," until he decided the gang wasn't violent enough around 2005.

Meanwhile, another attorney defending an alleged gangster in the current trial says that federal-immigration authorities didn't deport Ramos so that they could construct a mega-indictment against the gang. A ICE spokeswoman denied comment on this story, given the on-going trial.