Luis was born In México City, but moved to Leon when he was five because of the 1985 earthquake. At the age of fourteen he began writing for comic books and published several stories in a heavy-metal-type magazine called El Ático (The Attic). When he was 18, he moved to Puebla to continue with his engineer career but he dropped out of the university to continue his true passions: storytelling and filmmaking. He left México to live in Madrid, Spain, where he studied screenplay writing, editing, directing and cinematography. He came back to México and started working in production and as an assistant director in advertisement and music videos; he quickly began directing second units. On the side, he started doing short films with his associates, the cinematographer Rodrigo López Aldana and Arturo González Alonso. Together they have done three shorts, plus The Ten Commandments series. They are developing a feature screenplay based on the series.

Age 30. Gustavo became a member of the MS-13 in retaliation after one of his uncles tried to force him to join the 18th Street gang. As a notorious gang member, Gustavo gets arrested and deported back to Mexico. He goes back to his familys town in Chiapas and starts to recruit young guys to form the very first MS-13 clique in Mexican soil and becomes their Mara Leader. He is clever but he fails to notice what is about to happen to him � that the nature of the gang makes the power-hungry, younger members to want to top their elders. His faith and that of his family is written in blood.

Gustavo was born in México City and graduated from the Acting School of the College Theatre Center of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His first film appearences were in the short films: Avance micro, avance... directed by Josè Antonio Lendo, and Bebiendo de la copa del Diablo, by Danlive, both produced in 1998. These productions would be the starting point in a prolific acting career in film. He has started innumerable short films directed by new filmmakers and recognized directors, contributing to the development of the Mexican film industry, for example: Hugol, directed by Emilio Portes; La Partida, de Gerarndo Tort; and Tiro de Gracia, directed by Jesús Ochoa. With his participation in Amores Perros, a solid start for an acting career in feature films, he won the Ariel for Best Supporting Actor. He has been in several feature films, such as: Zurdo, directed by Carlos Salces; De la Calle, by Gerardo Tort; Vivir Mata, directed by Nicolás Echevarría; Un Mundo Maravilloso, directed by Luis Estrada, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by Tommy Lee Jones, Cannes Film Festival winner.

At 25 years old, he is one of the first recruited by the Mara Leader in Chiapas. He is a refugee because his family fled from San Salvador to Mexico to escape the guerrilla warfare. He represents the new generation of gangsters, power driven and extremely violent. His mind is set only in one goal: to become the leader of the gang and expand it as much as he can. Then he meets The Bitch, a beautiful girl who wants to join the clique but the Mara Leader takes her for himself.Now the Traitor has another powerful reason to take over the clique.

Carmen was born in Torreón, Coahuila on the September 4, 193Her first showbiz steps where marked by the disguise, using every element that would be on hand to go out to the stage and give it to the audience. In 1964, the television became her best ally when Ernesto Alonso directed her in productions of La vecindad, La Frontera, Sublime Redención, and El Chofer. Carmen started her theatre acting career in Cada Quien su Vida; Vine, Vi y Mejor Me Fui, but her finest role was in the play Aprendiendo a Ser Señora, for which she received much critical recognition. She consolidated her career in film with urban roles that made her popular - situations that allowed the audience to identify with them, either in the big city streets or in small towns. She participated in films like: Distrito Federal, Paso de cojo, El sexo sentido, Que viva Tepito, mi barrio, Noche de carnaval, Fin de semana en Garibaldi, Danzón, and Ciudad de ciegos. Carmen received in New York the A.C.E award by her work with Arturo Ripstein. She has been touring Mexico and the US with the play Aventurera.

Mara leader and Brother's mother, she can't immigrate with the rest of the family to Los Angeles because of a health problem. María is very religious, she constantly prays for the sake of her sons. She wants the Gang leader to leave the clique life and the Bitch's bad influence; the Mother thinks that love will help her accomplish this.

Ernesto was born in Veracruz, Veracruz, November 7, 193He was presented to the world of cinema in the 1966 film Los Caifanes, directed by Juan Ibáñez. Ernesto received a scholarship from Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), and studied acting in the Theatre School of the INBA in 1963, and after his fortunate debut (awarded with the Dios de Plata), started a very prolific film career, that has alternated with a similar long television trajectory and some theatre interpretations, the most recent, Tirano Banderas de Valle-Inclán y Aventurera de Carlos Olmos (1998). He has appeared in more than one hundred feature films, in which he has worked with most of the more important Mexican directors (Jorge Fons, Felipe Cazals, Paul Leduc, Arturo Ripstein, Luis Alcoriza, Miguel Littin, etc). His talent has given him several awards such as: seven Ariel Awards, six of them as Best Male Actor; the most recent one, for Best Supporting Actor (El Crímen del Padre Amaro). In 2003, Ernesto received a tribute in the 6th International Film Festival Expresión en Corto. Since 1998, he has been an Active Member of the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, A.C.

The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang has been responsible for hundreds of murders over the past 25 years. Founded in Los Angeles by Salvadoran immigrants, the gang now has cliques across the United States and Central America. You can find out more about their activities and the struggle to contain them in the links below.

MSTHIRTEEN.COM
- A clearinghouse of information about the gang

NPR.COM
- A look at the signature MS-13 tattoos

WIKIPEDIA.ORG
- A history and overview of the gang

FBI.GOV
- A government report on growing gang activity in Charlotte, NC

FOREIGNAFFAIRS.ORG
- The story of the infamous mass murder of a bus full of passengers in Honduras. The suspected leader of this atrocity was tracked down in Texas.

He is a hard working person, a family man, He has done his best to educate his sons - the Mara Leader and his Brother - but they have to leave the town to go to LA and he can't be a good influence anymore. The return of the Mara Leader to his hometown dooms his destiny and his wife's.