Diego Novella's tattoo hints at US gang connection

A grey suit, blue tie and a blue scarf draped around his neck. It is Diego Novella's signature attire for his murder trial in the High Court in Cape Town.

But as proceedings get under way, his perfectly placed scarf shifts to reveal half of a green military shield emblazoned with the number 13 tattooed on his neck.

Although Novella is not on trial for his ink, why cover it up? It is a question raised by the father of Gabriela Alban, Novella's girlfriend. In 2015 Alban, a marketing executive from the US, was found dead in an upmarket hotel in Camps Bay with faeces on her head. She and Novella had been on holiday together in South Africa.

"The first time we met, as a father, I am observing everything. I see this tattoo on his neck with the number 13 and it startled me," Howdy Kabrins testified on Thursday.

story_article_left1

The tattoo holds particular significance for Kabrins, a native of Los Angeles. In his lifetime Los Angeles and most of the southern US has seen the rise of a notorious street gang, MS-13. The MS stands for Mara Salvatrucha. In Spanish mara means gang, Salva stands for El Salvador, and trucha means street smarts. The 13 is m's place in the alphabet.

Kabrins said he discussed the possible gang connection with prosecutor Monare Julius, who did not take the inquiry further.

Convinced of the connection, Kabrins and family friends began their own investigation into the tattoo.

The FBI website says the gang was formed in the barrios (Latino districts) of LA in the 1980s. Most members are from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Novella's home country of Guatemala.

US President Donald Trump warns that the gang - whose motto is "rape, kill, control" - is taking over cities and towns.

MS-13's signature is large tattoos featuring the number 13 and the letters MS.

Novella's tattoo doesn't fit the traditional pattern, according to US security consultant Douglas Farah. But Farah wonders about the gang connection: "It is hard to imagine why else he would have the old-style neck tattoo otherwise."

When approached, Novella denied the gang connection, shaking his head emphatically at his attorney, William Booth. "No, in no way is there a connection. Thirteen is just a number," Novella said.

And Samantha Escamilla, a close friend, said the idea he was linked to MS-13 was "insane". She said: "I've lived in Guatemala all my life and I have never come across someone from the gang ... And they are all covered with tattoos. You can't even recognise a face under all that ink."

Novella, the son of construction tycoons, seems an unlikely recruit to a gang that draws its membership from poor, at-risk youth. After the death of his mother, the court heard, Novella began drawing from a trust fund, receiving $10,000 (about R133,000) a month for expenses.

The trial continues.