MS-13 Gang Members Sentenced for Murder, Drug Trafficking

An alleged member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang is presented to the press in San Salvador on July 28, 2016. (Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images)

An MS-13 gang member who was part of a larger group operating in Nashville, Tennessee, was sentenced Thursday for his involvement in several murders, drug trafficking, and other crimes, U.S. officials announced.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not identity which gang member was sentenced, stating only that the gang member was the last to be sentenced in a group of 18 who were subject to a yearslong investigation involving federal, state, and local law enforcement.

MS-13 gang members mostly come from El Salvador and Central America. The 18 were convicted as a result of the Nashville investigation into drug distribution and firearms offenses. They were found guilty of murdering 10 people and attempting to murder another seven people, prosecutors said.

They also committed several armed carjackings in the Nashville region.

All of the murders were committed between 2016 and 2017. Prison terms for the gang members ranged from one year in jail to a life sentence plus 65 years.

Several agencies investigated the case, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

The investigation involved charges of racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping, drug trafficking, firearms offenses, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence, prosecutors said.

Some of the victims in the case were attacked by MS-13 members because they were suspected of belonging to rival gangs, and one victim was attacked after being accused of cooperating with law enforcement, the DOJ said.

The prosecution was part of the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces. Established in 1982, the task forces aim to identify, disrupt, and dismantle high-level criminal organizations threatening the country.

MS-13 and Illegal Immigration

MS-13 came into increased public attention after an illegal immigrant alleged to be a gang member raped and killed a 20-year-old autistic woman in July 2022, in Aberdeen, Maryland.

The illegal immigrant, who was 16 years old at the time, was allowed entry into the United States as an unaccompanied minor in March 2022, according to a report released by House Republicans in May last year.

The report said the federal administration “insufficiently vetted” the teen before allowing him entry into the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “missed key warning signs about the alien’s propensity for violence, which law enforcement officials investigating the murder later uncovered,” the report said.

Years before coming to the United States, the illegal immigrant was arrested in El Salvador for links with MS-13, the report noted.

During a January hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Tammy Nobles, the victim’s mother, blamed the DHS for the tragedy.

“DHS employees failed to visually inspect the assailant by lifting his shirt to check for gang-related tattoos. Had DHS employees performed a visual inspection of the assailant’s body, they would have seen MS-13 gang-related tattoos on his body, disqualifying him from entering the U.S.,” she said.

“DHS employees failed to make a simple phone call to the El Salvador government to verify if assailant was on an MS-13 gang affiliation list. Had they done so, El Salvador government officials would have confirmed that the assailant was a known MS-13 gang member with a prior criminal history.”

In April, an MS-13 member named Jose Lainez-Martinez was sentenced to a 24-year prison term for his role in a racketeering conspiracy in Maryland.

In June, federal authorities arrested Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, allegedly an international leader of the gang who directed members’ activities in the United States and elsewhere.