La Mara Salvatrucha, otherwise known as MS-13, has tormented communities in the United States and Central America; however, it has not been reported before that the gang has done hired work. That is, until now.

The notorious and deadly gang has done the dirty work for another even more dangerous organization, but it was not in Los Angeles or the streets of San Salvador. Rather the gang reared its ugly head in St. Paul, Minnesota. According to an extensive report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the gang abducted two teenagers and tortured them as retaliation.

The gang was hired by the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel, which has operations from Central America all the way into the Midwest. Three men from the gang arrived in St. Paul last month and moved quickly to find two teenagers who were accused of stealing 30 pounds of methamphetamines worth $200,000. The two teenagers, a 19-year-old and a 16-year-old, were kept tied up in a basement. The assailants gave them the choice of giving them the drugs or paying the cartel $300,000. When the teenagers could not produce either, they were tortured.

The MS-13 men, according to the Star Tribune, threatened the teenagers as well as their families. However, the families had reported them missing to the police, and they had begun tracking all calls made to their homes. Yet, before arresting the men, the teenagers were beaten, and one had one of his fingers cut off.

Their captors released the teenagers on April 15 since the teenagers were not divulging any information. Threatening them, they told them not to go to the police. However, after being released, they went to the FBI, who subsequently stormed the home where they were tortured with St. Paul police SWAT team.

Jonatan Alvarez Delgado, 22, was arrested at the place, but the other two men fled. Jesus Ramirez, 31, was captured following a chase through downtown Los Angeles. The third man, known as "El Chapo," has disappeared.

According to Fox Latino News, MS-13 has about 10,000 members in 46 states around the country with particularly large presence in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia and all areas with a large Salvadorian communities. However, this latest incursion into the Midwest shows how far the tentacles of the drug cartels can extend.