Ernesto Miranda, aka “Smokey,” was an original member of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha street gang — also known as the MS-13 — created on the streets of Los Angeles and later exported to Central America. A former soldier in El Salvador’s long and bloody civil war, Miranda fled to Los Angeles, hoping to escape the violence. But he found plenty more in the streets of L.A.’s Pico Union neighborhood, where he banded together with other young Salvadoran immigrants to form what would become one of the city’s most notorious gangs. Full Story