ATLANTA—Remberto “Pitufo” Argueta and other MS-13 gang members spotted rival gangsters at an apartment complex in 2007 and approached them, federal officials said this week.
The 27-year-old Argueta approached them and asked them who they “claimed”—that is, what gang they belonged to. When Christian Escobar responded that he and his friend, Jose Garcia-Barajas, were members of the rival 18th Street gang, Argueta said, “You’re going to die.” Argueta pulled out a handgun and started chasing and shooting at Escobar and Garcia-Barajas. He shot Escobar in the back and Garcia-Barajas in the hip and arm.
While shooting at them, Argueta also fired shots into the apartments of nearby residents. An elderly woman testified that one of Argueta’s bullets hit the headrest of an armchair that she had been sitting on a few minutes earlier.
On November 22, 2013, after a trial lasting three weeks, a jury found Argueta guilty of RICO conspiracy involving murder, violent crime in aid of racketeering involving murder, and using a firearm to commit a crime of violence.
A federal judge sentenced Argueta, Lilburn, Ga., to two concurrent life sentences for his role in a gang-related murder and attempted murders in the Atlanta metropolitan area, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
“Nearly two dozen MS-13 members have been convicted as a part of this investigation, wiping out the leaders and top members of an international street gang that spread violence and fear throughout the Atlanta area,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell. “Sentences like the one handed down today help us to put MS-13 out of business in Atlanta and throughout the United States.”
Five months earlier, Argueta along with other members of MS-13, planned to rob Arpolonio Rios-Jarquin, a suspected drug dealer, at a hotel.
When Rios-Jarquin turned out to have his own gun, Argueta and his fellow MS-13 members engaged in a shootout with Rios-Jarquin that spilled outside the hotel room, officials said.
Rios-Jarquin died from the multiple gunshot wounds inflicted on him. Surveillance video showed one of the MS-13 members stopped to pick up Rios-Jarquin’s weapon, which he later showed off as a trophy.