(NewsNation) — Five members of the MS-13 gang were found guilty of six murders in California, the local U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Officials said the killings involved victims who were strangled, shot, stabbed with knives or a machete or beaten with a baseball bat. In some cases, their bodies were thrown off a cliff or down a hill in the Angeles National Forest.
Walter Chavez Larin, Roberto Alejandro Corado Ortiz and Edwin Martinez were convicted on one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act. Chavez and Corado were also convicted of two counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder; Martinez was convicted on three counts of the same crime.
Two other defendants, brothers Bryan Alexander Rosales Arias and Erick Eduardo Rosales Arias, were convicted on one count of violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder.
“We thank the jury for returning swift guilty verdicts against these MS-13 criminals who engaged in horrific acts of violence and murder,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
Evidence presented at the trial proved the victims were — or perceived to be — members of a rival gang of MS-13, or had violated MS-13’s rules.
Officials said back in July 2017, one victim — who claimed he had a leadership role in MS-13 — was stabbed and hacked to death by his killers, including Chavez. Several of the attackers unsuccessfully tried to decapitate the victim before leaving his body behind.
Four months later, a second victim — rumored to be an 18th Street member — was kidnapped, strangled, beaten with a baseball bat, then fatally stabbed with a large hunting-style knife. The assailants included Corado and Bryan Rosales.
A third victim in July 2018 — also rumored to be an 18th Street member — was shot by Corado in the back of the head. Corado gave the gun to Erick Rosales, who shot the victim before passing the gun to other MS-13 members who took turns shooting him.
Martinez murdered three victims in December 2018 and January 2019, officials said. They say Chavez participated in one of the January murders.
“Cases such as this one serve as a reminder that MS-13 has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization,” said Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The defendants in this case carried out barbaric attacks on their victims to simply enhance their ranking within the gang.”
The sentencing for Chavez, Corado, Martinez and the Arias brothers is scheduled for July 2026. They are all facing a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison.
Prosecutors say they’ve secured 25 convictions so far in the case.