ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WRIC) — The last defendant of the six La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members who were convicted in two separate federal trials was sentenced on Tuesday, June 18.
The six MS-13 members and associates were sentenced for racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy and offenses in connection to the murders of four men in 2019, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Court documents and evidence presented in the two trials determined that the six defendants were members of the MS-13’s Sitios Locos Salvatrucha clique (STLS), which operated in Northern Virginia and elsewhere for years.
The DOJ said from at least 2017 through 2020, the MS-13 members and associates traveled regularly to and from Long Island, New York for the purpose of acquiring cocaine from STLS’s leader in the U.S., Marvin Menjivar Gutierrez.
From there, the MS-13 members would take the cocaine to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to be sold in nightclubs and bars. The group used the proceeds of their cocaine sales to purchase more cocaine to sell, buy weapons and support other MS-13 members in the U.S. and El Salvador.
“These defendants—members of the violent MS-13 gang—sold drugs to fuel the gang’s business, surveilled and tracked rival gang members, and even murdered innocent victims, all to increase the grip that MS-13 had on the community,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “With today’s sentencing, we are holding these defendants accountable for the havoc they wreaked. The Criminal Division, along with our federal and local law enforcement partners, is committed to combatting violent criminal organizations that victimize our communities.”
In the spring of 2019, Menjivar and Melvin Canales Saldana, STL’s second-in-command in the U.S., ordered members to commit murders so that the junior members could rise in their MS-13 rank and amplify STLS’s prestige and control, according to DOJ.
In June 2019, three MS-13 members, which included Cristian Arevalo Arias and Carlos Turcios Villatoro, lured two victims into a wooded area and murdered them by shooting and stabbing them. The MS-13 members believed that one of the victims were from a rival gang, then murdered the other victim to avoid having a witness to the first victim’s murder, according to the DOJ.
In Aug. 2019, Canales ordered an MS-13 member to provide a firearm to Arevalo, so that Arevalo, Manilester Andrade Rivas and other MS-13 members could find and kill any rival gang member.
According to the DOJ, Arevalo, Andrade and others travelled to the Glen Arbor Apartments in Woodbridge, Virginia in hopes of finding and murdering a rival. They encountered a third victim and Arevalo shot him to death.
In Sept. 2019, Jairo Aguilera Sagastizado travelled to Woodbridge from New York and spent hours driving around Northern Virginia and Maryland with two other MS-13 members looking for a rival gang member to murder at random in order to rise in rank.
The DOJ said that Aguilera and the two other members were unable to find a rival and decided to murder a fourth victim that they observed walking home from a 7-Eleven store in Dumfries, Virginia. Aguilera and another member shot the fourth victim multiple times, killing him.
According to the DOJ, multiple MS-13 members and associates pled guilty prior to the trial. Below is the information about the defendants that were convicted at trial and have been sentenced:
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WRIC) — The last defendant of the six La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members who were convicted in two separate federal trials was sentenced on Tuesday, June 18.
The six MS-13 members and associates were sentenced for racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy and offenses in connection to the murders of four men in 2019, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Court documents and evidence presented in the two trials determined that the six defendants were members of the MS-13’s Sitios Locos Salvatrucha clique (STLS), which operated in Northern Virginia and elsewhere for years.
The DOJ said from at least 2017 through 2020, the MS-13 members and associates traveled regularly to and from Long Island, New York for the purpose of acquiring cocaine from STLS’s leader in the U.S., Marvin Menjivar Gutierrez.
From there, the MS-13 members would take the cocaine to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to be sold in nightclubs and bars. The group used the proceeds of their cocaine sales to purchase more cocaine to sell, buy weapons and support other MS-13 members in the U.S. and El Salvador.
“These defendants—members of the violent MS-13 gang—sold drugs to fuel the gang’s business, surveilled and tracked rival gang members, and even murdered innocent victims, all to increase the grip that MS-13 had on the community,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “With today’s sentencing, we are holding these defendants accountable for the havoc they wreaked. The Criminal Division, along with our federal and local law enforcement partners, is committed to combatting violent criminal organizations that victimize our communities.”
In the spring of 2019, Menjivar and Melvin Canales Saldana, STL’s second-in-command in the U.S., ordered members to commit murders so that the junior members could rise in their MS-13 rank and amplify STLS’s prestige and control, according to DOJ.
In June 2019, three MS-13 members, which included Cristian Arevalo Arias and Carlos Turcios Villatoro, lured two victims into a wooded area and murdered them by shooting and stabbing them. The MS-13 members believed that one of the victims were from a rival gang, then murdered the other victim to avoid having a witness to the first victim’s murder, according to the DOJ.
In Aug. 2019, Canales ordered an MS-13 member to provide a firearm to Arevalo, so that Arevalo, Manilester Andrade Rivas and other MS-13 members could find and kill any rival gang member.
According to the DOJ, Arevalo, Andrade and others travelled to the Glen Arbor Apartments in Woodbridge, Virginia in hopes of finding and murdering a rival. They encountered a third victim and Arevalo shot him to death.
In Sept. 2019, Jairo Aguilera Sagastizado travelled to Woodbridge from New York and spent hours driving around Northern Virginia and Maryland with two other MS-13 members looking for a rival gang member to murder at random in order to rise in rank.
The DOJ said that Aguilera and the two other members were unable to find a rival and decided to murder a fourth victim that they observed walking home from a 7-Eleven store in Dumfries, Virginia. Aguilera and another member shot the fourth victim multiple times, killing him.
According to the DOJ, multiple MS-13 members and associates pled guilty prior to the trial. Below is the information about the defendants that were convicted at trial and have been sentenced: