A member of the violent MS-13 gang was sentenced to 26 years in prison for a racketeering conspiracy involving the murder of a person wearing the wrong shoes.

Jose Lopez Rivera, 27, is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador and was a member of the trans-national La Mara Salvatrucha gang, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said that in August 2015 Rivera was drinking with other gang members in Wheaton, Maryland, when they saw a person wearing Nike Cortez sneakers. Those shoes were only to be worn by gang members, according to prosecutors.

When the gang members and the victim crossed paths, the victim spit on them, said prosecutors. A fight broke out and Lopez Rivera and another gang member stabbed the victim to death.

They reported the murder to gang leadership, prosecutors said.

Investigators said they found a shotgun, ammunition and cocaine at Lopez Rivera's apartment in New York.

Prosecutors added that more than 30 MS-13 gang members have been convicted in this and related cases.