MS-13 gang members who terrorized Tennessee slapped with combined 425 years in prison

Eighteen members of the MS-13 Gang have been sentenced to a combined total of 425 years for crimes including murder, racketeering and drug trafficking in the United States.

The group was part of the gang's Thompson Place Locos Salvatrucha arm in Nashville, Tennessee, for the past decade, according to the US Department of Justice. MS-13 was set up by Salvadoran migrants, who had fled the civil war to the US in 1980. The Department of Justice said its members are known to be well-organized and involved in “lucrative illegal enterprises" .

MS-13 attempts to maintain and protect its power, territory and profits through kidnapping, extortion and murder , among other criminal activities. The 18 convicted members received a variety of sentences this week, following a multi-year investigation and prosecution.

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The sentences ranged from one year to life. The ages of the members also ranged from 23 years old to 44. Multiple incidents lead to the prosecution including, mainly relating to murders of alleged rival gang members. The DOJ said that in one case, Jose Pineda-Caceres, 25, murdered someone believed to be a rival gang member by luring him out to a field and shooting him multiple times.

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Those now sentenced from the gang are:

• Jorge Flores, 31, life plus 65 years in prison
• Kevin Tidwell, 30, life plus 30 years in prison
• Luis Colindres, 27, 55 years in prison
• Jose Pineda-Caceres, 25, 52 years and three months in prison
• Gerson Serrano-Ramirez, 36, 34 years in prison
• Carlos Ochoa-Martinez, 34, 30 years in prison
• Francisco Avila, 26, 30 years in prison
• Franklin Hernandez, 24, 28 years and 11 months in prison
• Jason Sandoval, 38, 20 years in prison
• Oscar Delgado-Flores, 30, 19 years and eight months in prison
• Angel Daniel-Garcia, 38, 13 years and nine months in prison
• Bryan Paredes, 27, 10 years in prison
• Jose Calderon, 24, 10 years in prison
• Hector Venturas, 28, 12 years and seven months in prison
• Juan Melendez, 25, eight years in prison
• Franklin Pineda-Caceres, 23, seven years and six months in prison
• Sergio Alvarado-Ochoa, 30, two years and six months in prison
• Anabely Caceres, 44, time-served sentence of one year and one month

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