CHARLOTTE -- Wednesday's round-up 37 accused members of MS-13 is surprising to the former director of the FBI's criminal division and the current chairman of The Governors Crime Commission.
Chris Swecker said the investigation isn't targeting individual criminals, but is designed to dismantle the gang as a whole.
"It is a major, significant blow to their presence in North Carolina,” said Swecker.
According to court documents, MS-13 operates in Mecklenburg, Rowan, Guilford, Forsyth, and Durham County in North Carolina.
Its members use violence, assaults, and murder to protect their power and territory.
Back in 2008, 26 members of the gang were indicted on conspiracy charges.
All were later sentenced to prison.
And one, Alejandro Umana, was sentected to death for the 2007 murders of two brothers at a Greensboro restaurant.
"I called him a killer among killers because he was,” said Jill Westmoreland Rose, an acting U.S. attorney
Rose prosecuted Umana and spoke to Time Warner Cable News after that trial.
"We haven't called a truce and this isn't the end,” said Rose.
Now she's at the helm of the cases against dozens more suspected MS-13 members, charged with crimes that range from racketeering conspiracy to murder.