A Federal Grand Jury has charged four members of the La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang with racketeering conspiracy involving murder, attempted murder and drug trafficking.
According to court documents, MS-13 is an "international criminal organization composed primarily of immigrants or descendents if immigrants from El Salvador, with members operating in the state of Maryland, including Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and throughout the United States."
The following, all from Baltimore, have been charged with racketeering conspiracy:
- Wilson Arturo Constanza-Galdomez, a.k.a "Humilde" and "Marco Saravia" (23)
- Edis Omar Valenzuela-Rodriguez, a.k.a "Little Felon" (22)
- Jonathan Pesquera-Puerto, a.k.a “Truney” (21)
- Wualter Orellana-Hernandez, a.k.a “Solotario” and “Little Diablo" (21)
MS-13 members are organized in cliques, the court documents said, and are required to commit acts of violence to maintain membership and discipline in the gang.
One of the gang's principle rules is that members must attack and kill rivals, known as "chavalas," whenever possible, the court documents said.
In Baltimore City and Baltimore County, the court documents said MS-13 has rivalries with the 18th Street Gang, the Cruddy Boys, the Highlandtown Boys, the Surenos Gang, the Bloods gang, and others.
Constanza-Galdomez and Pesquera-Puerto were members or associates of the Carlington Locos Salvatrucha (CALS) clique and Valenzuela-Rodriguez and Orellana-Hernandez were members of the Huntington Criminales Locos Salvatrucha (HCLS) clique, according to the court documents.
The court documents said the indictments alleges that, "from June 2019 through at least October 2021, the defendants participated in the racketeering activities of MS-13, including two-murders, four attempted murders, drug trafficking offenses, and witness tampering."
On April 25, 2020, Constanza-Galdomez, Valenzuela-Rodriguez, Orellana-Hernandez and other members and associates of the gang conspired to assault a person who they suspected was a rival gang member, the indictment detailed.
That same day, the indictment said they allegedly assaulted the person in Baltimore, striking him with machetes multiple times. Other members and associates of MS-13 reported the assault to MS-13 leadership.
On May 14, 2020, Valenzuela-Rodriquez and another MS-13 member allegedly attempted to lure another person to Patterson Park, where Constanza-Galdomez, Valenzuela-Rodriguez, and other MS-13 members and associates attempted to murder the person by stabbing him with a knife, the indictment said.
The indictment states on May 29, 2020, all four defendants allegedly lured a third person, who they suspected to be from a rival, to a park in Cockeysville, Maryland, where they stabbed her multiple times, murdering her. The indictment detailed that another MS-13 members served as look-out, to make sure they would not get arrested while murdering the victim.
On June 5, 2020, Constanza-Galdomez, Valenzuela-Rodriguez, Orellana-Hernandez, and other gang members allegedly lured a fourth person, who they suspected was a rival gang member that cooperated with law enforcement, to an area near the CSX Bayview Yard in Baltimore and murdered her, the indictment said.
The indictment also details the conspiracies to commit murder and the attempted murders of two other victims.
From 2019 through 2020, the indictment stated that the defendants conspired to distribute marijuana, cocaine, and fentanyl, to raise funds for MS-13, to purchase drugs and weapons for the gang and to send proceeds of the drug sale to MS-13 members and associates in Maryland and other states and in El Salvador to support the gang.
If convicted, the four defendants will face the maximum sentences of life in federal prison for the racketeering conspiracy.