Gangs selling fake IDs to illegals

From the Times Ledger:

Police arrested 18 people, many who have suspected ties to the international street gang M18, on charges of running a fake identification mill for immigrants in Jackson Heights, the Queens district attorney’s office said.

Those who were taken into custody, 13 of whom are Queens residents, included seven men believed to be M18 members who allegedly gave forged documents to the police when officers asked for their identification papers, three men who were allegedly caught exchanging a fake Social Security card and permanent resident card for cash, two suspected M18 members and document forgers, another man and a woman who allegedly had forged documents and four other alleged M18 members, the DA said.

The arrests were made as part of an investigation beginning in June 2010 by the NYPD’s Manhattan Gang Squad of an alleged M18-run forged document organization centered in Jackson Heights, the DA said.

State Assemblyman Francisco Moya (D-Jackson Heights) said Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights have become an epicenter of gang recruitment of children and he applauded Brown’s work.