A Las Vegas federal jury convicted three MS-13 members, all of whom are in the country illegally, for carrying out nine murders in Nevada and California between late 2017 and early 2018.
Federal prosecutors said the three gang members — David Arturo Perez-Manchame, 27; Jose Luis Reynaldo Reyes-Castillo, 30; and Joel Vargas-Escobar, 30 — were found guilty of racketeering-related murder and kidnapping charges in the slayings of rival gang members or drug dealers, often torturing the victims before they were killed.
Trial testimony revealed Vargas-Escobar was the leader of the MS-13’s Parkview clique in the Las Vegas area, while Reyes-Castillo and Perez-Manchame were two of his henchmen. All three convicts are Salvadoran.
“Thanks to the tireless work of our law enforcement partners and prosecutors, these MS-13 members will be held accountable for the horrific violence they unleashed on U.S. communities during their yearlong killing spree,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Monday. “This Justice Department will continue to use every tool available to us to dismantle MS-13 and other deadly transnational criminal organizations.”
Court documents said the first killing took place Dec. 18, 2017, when the Parkview clique “greenlit” the killing of a rival gang member.
Reyes-Castillo and another MS-13 member kidnapped the victim from downtown Mendota, California, drove him to a rural area and hacked him to death with machetes and knives until he was left unrecognizable, prosecutors said.
The filing said Vargas-Escobar, Reyes-Castillo and another MS-13 member shot and killed the second victim outside a house on Dec. 31, 2017. The killers believed the victim was dealing drugs on their turf and gunned him down in retaliation.
Prosecutors said the next two killings occurred on Jan. 9 and Jan. 21, 2018.
The Jan. 9 victim was believed to have defected from MS-13 and joined its chief rival, the 18th Street gang, while the Jan. 21 victim was already a member of that gang. Both victims were kidnapped, driven out to the desert, and stabbed and shot several times until dying.
Court documents said Reyes-Castillo and other MS-13 members killed two suspected rival gang members in a drive-by shooting on Feb. 6, 2018. A third victim was hit by gunfire but managed to survive.
Prosecutors said that three days later, Reyes-Castillo, Perez-Manchame and other MS-13 members kidnapped the seventh murder victim because he dressed and had tattoos indicating he was affiliated with a rival gang.
The killers took the victim to a mountain and stabbed him over 200 times, the filing said. Authorities didn’t find the victim’s decomposing body until three weeks after he was killed.
Evidence presented at trial revealed that the eighth victim was also kidnapped and taken to a mountain outside Las Vegas sometime in February 2018. The victim, who was identified as a rival gang member by a prior victim, was killed after being shot 20 times.
Prosecutors said the trio’s final victim was stabbed 120 times on March 1, 2018, after being kidnapped by Reyes-Castillo, Perez-Manchame and another MS-13 member. The victim was thought to be a rival gang member.
“These convictions deliver a clear and uncompromising message: MS 13’s violence will be met with the full power of federal prosecution,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada. “These defendants carried out a campaign of terror marked by murders, kidnappings and brutality. Their reign of violence ends today.”
Each defendant could be sentenced to life in prison without parole during their sentencing hearing in November.
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