A New Jersey man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for murder, drug trafficking along with other felony crimes, federal officials stated.
Miguel Angel Corea Diaz aka Reaper, 41, of Long Branch, a leader in the transnational criminal enterprise La Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, was convicted by a federal jury on Nov. 23, 2021, after a four-week trial.
Co-defendant Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno aka Insolente and Trankilo, 24, of Landover, Maryland, was also convicted at trial.
He faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25.
According to court documents, MS-13 is a transnational gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador. MS-13 has branches or “cliques” that operate throughout Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland and elsewhere on the East Coast.
“The brutality of Corea Diaz is almost unfathomable,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland.
“As members of MS-13, Corea Diaz and his co-conspirators were ruthless and showed no regard for human life by extorting innocent people, tampering with witnesses, and ordering a murder over a drug dispute,” said Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office.
According to evidence presented at trial, between 2015 and 2018, Corea Diaz and his co-defendant Alvarado-Requeno controlled and operated the Sailors Locos Salvatruchos Westside (S.L.S.W. or Sailors) Clique.
This Sailors Clique was involved in a host of significant criminal activity including murder, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, and witness tampering.
Evidence showed that the gang ran a “protection” scheme in and around its home base in Langley Park, Maryland, and extorted local businesses by charging them “rent” for the privilege of operating in MS-13 “territory.”
The gang also trafficked in illegal drugs, including heroin and cocaine.
A large share of the proceeds of the gang’s illegal activities were sent to gang leadership in El Salvador using structured transactions and intermediaries to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.
According to evidence presented at trial, the Sailors Clique committed acts of violence against suspected rival gang members, as well as against its own membership for breaking gang rules
In March 2017, a member of the Sailors Clique who was hiding from law enforcement in the Lynchburg, Virginia, area had a dispute with a local high school student over marijuana.
In response, Corea-Diaz and Alvarado-Requeno organized a squad of MS-13 members to drive down to Lynchburg and murder the minor.
The gang members kidnapped the student from his front lawn and cut his hand off before killing him.
After the murder, Corea Diaz and Alvarado-Requeno helped to hide and protect the killers from law enforcement, federal officials stated.