Los Angeles Times (subscription), CA
Minutes after hooded commandos stormed his tiny shack in the middle of the night and hustled him off to jail, Juan Carlos Diaz was smiling.
Had he shot a bus fare collector in cold blood before 25 horrified commuters, as the police said? The 18-year-old high school dropout grinned before answering: "Not even close."
But he acknowledged joining the M-18 gang four months earlier and proudly looked down at the 10-inch-high "18" tattooed on his chest and abdomen. "For me," he said, "that number is everything."
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