A federal jury in Los Angeles on Friday convicted five members of the notorious MS-13 street gang of six murders marked by staggering brutality — killings carried out to enhance their standing in the gang’s hierarchy, prosecutors said.
The verdict, delivered after a nine-week trial, concluded one of the most violent chapters in the government’s long-running crackdown on the transnational criminal organization known formally as Mara Salvatrucha 13.
A Campaign of Killings
The victims — some rival gang members, others accused of breaking MS-13’s rules — were strangled, stabbed, hacked with machetes, beaten with baseball bats or shot at point-blank range. In several cases, their bodies were dumped in remote stretches of the Angeles National Forest, near Malibu and in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Prosecutors said the murders were committed between 2017 and 2019 by local MS-13 cliques that demanded violence as a means of promotion. Each killing, authorities said, was designed to “gain entry to and maintain and increase position” within the gang.
The Defendants
Those convicted include Walter Chavez Larin, 26, of Panorama City; Roberto Alejandro Corado Ortiz, 30, of Baldwin Park; Edwin Martinez, 28, of Cypress Park; Bryan Alexander Rosales Arias, 28, of South Los Angeles; and Erick Eduardo Rosales Arias, 27, also of South Los Angeles.
All five were found guilty of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Chavez, Corado, and Martinez were also convicted of multiple counts of murder in aid of racketeering. Each faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II in July 2026.
“Barbaric Acts of Violence”
Akil Davis, the F.B.I.’s assistant director in Los Angeles, said the defendants “carried out barbaric attacks simply to enhance their rank,” while Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna praised the “tireless efforts” of law enforcement that “brought justice to the victims’ families.”
The Murders
According to court testimony:
June 2017: A self-proclaimed MS-13 leader was taken to the Angeles National Forest, stabbed and hacked to death, and nearly decapitated.
October 2017: A suspected rival from the 18th Street gang was lured by two teenage girls, beaten, strangled, stabbed, and tossed off a cliff.
July 2018: Another 18th Street affiliate was shot in the head near Malibu by Corado and others; his body was dumped down a hillside.
December 2018 – January 2019: Martinez killed three men — a mistaken rival, a drug-using MS-13 associate, and a homeless man with a rival tattoo.
A Broader Crackdown
Friday’s verdicts bring to 25 the number of convictions secured in the sweeping federal case targeting MS-13’s Los Angeles network. Prosecutors said several additional defendants are scheduled to stand trial in April 2026 on related racketeering and murder charges.