New York’s federal jury convicts El Salvador nationals on RICO charges
The three participated in an international criminal gang M-13
A federal jury in New Jersey has convicted three El Salvador nationals under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges. It includes murder in aid of racketeering, stemming from their participation in Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), an international criminal gang.
(MS-13 originated in Los Angeles (LA) in the 1970s and 1980s and was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the LA area).
According to the court documents and evidence presented at the trial, between 2014-2015, Juan Pablo Escalante-Melgar, aka Humilde, 32, Elmer Cruz-Diaz, aka Locote, 33, and Oscar Sanchez-Aguilar, aka Snappy, 25, participated in the affairs of MS-13 by committing multiple racketeering offenses, including murder, extortion, witness tampering, and drug trafficking.
The evidence presented at the trial showed that in 2015, Melgar and Aguilar instructed an MS-13 member and a recruit to kill a suspected rival gang member so that the recruit could become a full member of MS-13.
The same year, Jose Urias-Hernandez, then 19-years-old, was shot and killed execution-style (a single shot to the back of his head), as he entered his apartment building.
Kenneth A. Polite Jr, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said, “These defendants brutally murdered Hernandez because they believed he was a rival gang member, though actually, he was an innocent person.
“Their actions caused irreparable harm to the victim’s family and the surrounding community. We will not stop in our pursuit of those MS-13 gang members, both in the United States and elsewhere, who prey on the communities they harm and intimidate.”
Rachael A. Honig, acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, said, “The jury’s guilty verdicts cannot bring back the life of Hernandez, but they do ensure that these defendants will be held accountable for their actions.”
Jay Greenberg, acting Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, stated, “In collaboration with our federal, state, local and international partners, we will aggressively target and pursue violent offenders. We send a clear signal to others who engage in this type of gang violence that we will bring them to justice wherever they are based.”
According to court documents, MS-13 is now active in El Salvador, Central America, and Mexico and numerous states across the United States, including New Jersey. It is governed by a core set of rules, including a standing order to kill rival gang members and a strict rule against cooperating with law enforcement agencies.
MS-13 is organized into a series of sub-units, or “cliques,” that operate in specific geographic locations, and a single leader, sometimes known as the “First Word”, typically controls each clique. Among cliques active in and around Hudson County, New Jersey, Melgar was the First Word of the Pinos Locos Salvatrucha clique, and Diaz was the First Word of the Hudson Locos Salvatrucha clique.
In addition to murder, MS-13 members trafficked drugs, extorted a restaurant operating in the gang’s turf. It intimidated witnesses to prevent cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Evidence presented at the trial showed that Melgar and Diaz conspired to murder a fellow MS-13 member, whom Salvadoran MS-13 leaders had “green-lighted”, meaning ordered to be killed, as he was suspected of cooperating with law enforcement agencies.
Melgar, Diaz and Aguilar were among 10 defendants charged in this investigation. They face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison for murder in aid of racketeering, a maximum sentence of life in prison for the offenses of racketeering conspiracy and causing death through the use of a firearm.
Another defendant, Christian Linares-Rodriguez, aka Donkey, 42, is a high-ranking MS-13 member, currently incarcerated in El Salvador.
The FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Newark Field Office, the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, and the West New York Police Department investigated the case.
Trial attorney Matthew K. Hoff of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and assistant US attorney Desiree Grace of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey prosecuted the case.