LOS ANGELES — In a verdict that federal authorities hailed as a major victory against one of the world’s most violent criminal organizations, a Los Angeles jury on Tuesday convicted five members of the transnational gang Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13) on a raft of murder and racketeering charges following a nine-week trial that exposed the inner workings of a network described as “terroristic” in its brutality.
The verdict marks a critical chapter in a yearslong campaign by the Department of Justice and FBI to dismantle MS-13 operations in Southern California, a region the gang has used as both a recruitment hub and staging ground for violence extending from El Salvador to U.S. city streets.
According to prosecutors, the defendants—Walter Chavez Larin, 26; Roberto Alejandro Corado Ortiz, 30; Edwin Martinez, 28; Bryan Alexander Rosales Arias, 28; and Erick Eduardo Rosales Arias, 27—were members of interconnected Los Angeles–based “cliques” who carried out six murders in a grisly effort to climb the gang’s hierarchy.
Victims were strangled, shot, stabbed with knives and machetes, or beaten with baseball bats. Some were dumped off cliffs in the Angeles National Forest, where hikers later stumbled upon shallow graves and skeletal remains.
“The level of violence we saw in this case is staggering even by the standards of MS-13,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli following the verdict. “These were calculated killings designed to earn rank within a terrorist organization.”
A Campaign of Terror
During the trial, prosecutors painted a vivid picture of a gang steeped in ritualized savagery, where advancement within its ranks required the shedding of blood. The murders, they said, were not random acts but sanctioned executions meant to “demonstrate loyalty, instill fear, and maintain control.”
One victim was beaten to death with a metal bat after being accused of cooperating with police. Another was stabbed dozens of times before being tossed into a ravine. A third was ambushed on suspicion of having ties to the rival 18th Street Gang, MS-13’s longtime adversary in Los Angeles.
“This was not street-level violence,” said Essayli. “This was systemic, organized brutality meant to send a message: defy MS-13, and you die.”
For the families of the victims—many of whom attended the trial—the verdict brought a measure of closure. “We waited years for this,” said one relative outside the courthouse, clutching a framed photograph of her brother. “He wasn’t a gang member. He was just in the wrong place.”
The RICO Connection
Prosecutors charged the defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a legal framework designed to target organized criminal enterprises by holding leaders and participants accountable for coordinated acts of violence.
All five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to violate RICO, while Chavez and Corado were each convicted of two counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR) murder, Martinez on three counts, and the Rosales brothers on one count each.
Each conviction carries the possibility of life imprisonment without parole, a sentence prosecutors say reflects not only the scale of the crimes but the need to protect communities from future violence.
“These were not impulsive murders,” said Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “They were orchestrated, approved, and celebrated by a network that operates more like a paramilitary organization than a street gang.”
The Path to Conviction
The trial, held in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, lasted more than two months and featured hundreds of exhibits, dozens of witnesses, and extensive forensic evidence—including ballistics, DNA analysis, and digital communications linking the defendants to the crimes.
Federal agents and local investigators testified about surveillance operations, wiretaps, and intercepted phone messages in which gang members discussed the killings using coded language.
One recording captured a member bragging about the “machete work” done on a rival, while another showed a defendant posing for a photo with a firearm used in one of the murders.
“This case was built brick by brick,” said Essayli. “The evidence was overwhelming.”
The prosecution’s success also reflects a new multi-agency approach to gang enforcement. The case was investigated jointly by the FBI’s Los Angeles Violent Crimes Task Force, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, working under the umbrella of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative.
Federal Voices: The Message from Washington
In Washington, officials framed the verdict as validation of an aggressive national strategy that began under President Donald Trump and continues under current leadership: treating MS-13 not as a local gang problem, but as a transnational terrorist threat.
“The horrific violence in this case underscores the urgency of destroying MS-13 and putting its depraved members behind bars,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who has spearheaded recent reforms in federal anti-gang operations.
“Under President Trump, MS-13 can no longer unleash terror on the American people with impunity,” Bondi added. “We will eradicate this foreign terrorist organization and secure justice for its victims.”
Her language—invoking the word “eradicate”—reflects a notable shift in tone. In recent years, the Department of Justice has increasingly used counterterrorism frameworks to target MS-13, allowing prosecutors to deploy enhanced surveillance, immigration enforcement tools, and financial sanctions typically reserved for national security threats.
The FBI’s Expanding Crackdown
Behind the courtroom drama lies a larger federal campaign. The FBI’s Anti-Gang Task Force, now led by Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, has launched an intensified crackdown across the country, focusing particularly on MS-13 cells in California, New York, Virginia, and Maryland.
Since 2022, that initiative has resulted in more than 1,200 arrests, hundreds of convictions, and the extradition of several high-ranking MS-13 leaders from Central America. The bureau’s Los Angeles office has been among the busiest, given the city’s long-standing role as a key entry point and recruitment hub for the gang’s U.S. operations.
“MS-13 thrives on intimidation,” said Davis. “But this verdict shows that intimidation fails when law enforcement stands united. Our agents, detectives, and prosecutors worked shoulder to shoulder for years to dismantle this clique—and they succeeded.”
The FBI’s approach blends old-school fieldwork with new technology: drone surveillance in high-risk zones, AI-assisted analysis of social media communications, and coordination with Interpol to track transnational movements. “We are not just disrupting the street-level gangs,” said Davis. “We are cutting into the organizational arteries.”
Los Angeles: A City Scarred and Resilient
MS-13’s roots in Los Angeles stretch back to the 1980s, when Salvadoran immigrants fleeing civil war formed the gang initially as a protective community in Pico-Union and Koreatown. But over decades, the group morphed into a sprawling criminal enterprise intertwined with the international drug trade, human trafficking, and murder-for-hire networks.
In neighborhoods like South Central, MacArthur Park, and parts of the San Fernando Valley, MS-13’s presence has waxed and waned, but its reputation has endured—fed by both myth and grim reality.
“People hear ‘MS-13’ and they think of tattoos and machetes,” said criminologist Dr. Evelyn Ortiz at Cal State Los Angeles. “But what’s often overlooked is how deeply embedded these networks are in community structures—schools, workplaces, social media. You can’t just arrest your way out. You have to undermine the recruitment pipeline.”
Still, law enforcement officials emphasize that visible crackdowns are essential to restoring public confidence. “For years, residents lived in fear,” said LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, whose department assisted in the investigation. “These convictions send a message: there’s no safe haven for gang violence in this city.”
The Anatomy of MS-13
MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is structured more like a federation than a monolithic gang. Local “cliques,” or clicas, operate semi-independently but answer to regional leadership, which in turn communicates with “La Ranfla Nacional”—the gang’s executive body based primarily in El Salvador.
Membership rituals often involve “jump-ins,” where recruits endure violent beatings, followed by “missions” to prove loyalty. Advancement within the hierarchy, prosecutors explained, frequently requires acts of “bravery” —a euphemism for murder.
“Violence is their currency,” said former federal prosecutor Henry Lamas, who has handled multiple MS-13 cases. “The more violent the act, the more status it earns. It’s not about profit; it’s about power and fear.”
The gang’s presence in Los Angeles today is smaller than at its peak but remains potent, particularly among youth vulnerable to recruitment. Law enforcement sources estimate there are still hundreds of active members spread across multiple cliques.
A Web of Fear: Inside the Trial’s Testimony
Witnesses—some of them former MS-13 members who turned state’s evidence—provided chilling accounts of life inside the gang. One cooperating witness described how younger recruits were pressured to commit “initiation murders,” often of rival gang members but sometimes of perceived traitors within their own ranks.
“They told me I had to prove myself,” the witness testified. “If I didn’t, they said my family would pay the price.”
The defense attempted to discredit the prosecution’s witnesses, arguing that many were testifying in exchange for leniency. Defense attorneys also claimed the government had exaggerated the defendants’ connections to higher-ranking gang figures.
But prosecutors countered with forensic and digital evidence—photos, text messages, and even GPS data placing several defendants at murder scenes—that proved difficult to refute.
Community Impact: Living With the Consequences
In parts of South Los Angeles where MS-13 once operated openly, the verdict has stirred both relief and unease. “People feel safer, but they also fear retaliation,” said Maria Ruiz, a local community organizer who runs youth programs in Pico-Union. “Every time there’s a big takedown, something shifts on the streets. There’s always a vacuum—and someone always tries to fill it.”
The federal crackdown has also reignited debate over prevention versus enforcement. Critics argue that focusing solely on arrests risks perpetuating cycles of incarceration without addressing the root causes of gang recruitment: poverty, broken immigration systems, and lack of opportunity.
“You can’t arrest away despair,” said Dr. Ortiz, the criminologist. “If you want to end MS-13, you have to offer an alternative vision of belonging.”
Law enforcement leaders insist that both are necessary. “Our goal isn’t just to put people in prison,” said Sheriff Robert G. Luna. “It’s to make sure another generation doesn’t rise up to replace them.”
The Global Dimension
What sets MS-13 apart from typical street gangs is its global infrastructure. Its command structure reaches across borders, linking operations in Central America, Mexico, and the United States through a web of encrypted communications and informal money transfers.
FBI officials have long referred to the organization as a “hybrid threat”—a criminal network with the discipline and coordination of a paramilitary force. U.S. authorities have collaborated with Interpol and Central American law enforcement agencies to track leaders, seize assets, and intercept communications.
Those efforts intensified after the U.S. government officially designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization, a classification that opened the door to using counterterrorism tools like international warrants and asset freezes.
“The MS-13 model is evolving,” said a senior FBI counterterrorism official. “They’ve gone from street-level crime to transnational logistics. That makes cases like this one not just criminal prosecutions—but national security priorities.”
The Politics of Gang Prosecution
The Los Angeles verdict also carries political weight. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, MS-13 has served as a symbol of America’s struggle with border security and organized crime.
Former President Trump frequently cited MS-13 as evidence of porous borders and weak immigration enforcement, calling its members “animals” and urging Congress to expand deportation powers. Critics accused him of inflaming xenophobia. Supporters said he simply spoke the truth about a violent transnational menace.
The current Justice Department, while toning down rhetoric, has quietly expanded many of the same policies: closer coordination with immigration authorities, aggressive use of RICO statutes, and extraditions from El Salvador and Honduras.
“Politics aside, the results speak for themselves,” said Essayli. “We are taking killers off the streets and restoring safety to our neighborhoods.”
A Message to Other Gangs
In Los Angeles and beyond, law enforcement officials hope the verdict sends a broader deterrent message—to MS-13 and other organized gangs operating across the country.
“These convictions send a powerful message that criminal gang violence and intimidation have no place in Los Angeles County,” said Sheriff Luna. “These violent individuals terrorized our communities and tore families apart. Through the tireless efforts of our local and federal partners, we have brought justice to the victims’ families and held these individuals accountable.”
LAPD Chief McDonnell echoed that sentiment: “The brutality of these crimes is a stark reminder of why our work matters. Every arrest, every conviction, every community partnership brings us closer to a city where children can grow up without fear.”
Looking Ahead: Sentencing and Beyond
The five convicted MS-13 members are scheduled to be sentenced early next year. Each faces life imprisonment without parole, and prosecutors are expected to recommend that they serve their sentences in high-security federal facilities designed to isolate gang leaders and disrupt communication with the outside world.
For investigators, the verdict marks both an ending and a beginning. Several related cases remain under seal, including indictments of additional MS-13 associates still at large in California, Nevada, and Texas.
“The fight isn’t over,” said Davis. “For every clique we dismantle, another tries to take its place. But make no mistake: this verdict is a blow from which MS-13 in Los Angeles will not soon recover.”
The Broader Lesson
The story of MS-13 in Los Angeles is a microcosm of a larger global struggle—between law enforcement systems built on rules, and criminal networks built on fear.
Each conviction, each extradition, each takedown erodes a little more of the gang’s myth of invincibility. But the work of rebuilding safe, thriving communities—communities where young people see futures beyond violence—will take years, perhaps generations.
For now, though, the message from the courthouse steps was clear:
“MS-13 is a violent, brutal gang that must be eliminated from the United States,” Essayli said. “And we will not stop until we succeed.”
Adrian Hawthorne is a celebrated author and dedicated archivist who finds inspiration in the hidden stories of the past. Educated at Oxford, he now works at the National Archives, where preserving history fuels his evocative writing. Balancing archival precision with creative storytelling, Adrian founded the Hawthorne Institute of Literary Arts to mentor emerging writers and honor the timeless art of narrative.