Left to right: Walter Antonio Chicas-Garcia a.k.a. Mejia, Wilson Jose Ventura-Mejia a.k.a. Discreto, and Miguel Angel Aguilar-Ochoa a.k.a. Darki (U.S. Department of Justice/Houston Police Department).
Three members of the transnational criminal organization Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, will spend decades behind bars for a string of grisly gangland killings in the Houston metro area.
Each of the defendants – El Salvadoran nationals to the last – was arrested in September 2018 by a task force of local authorities, county officials, and federal prosecutors. The crimes in question date back to 2017 and include the dismemberment of a teenage girl.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced the trio will be sentenced to 50 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts in the sprawling racketeering case against them.
“Here, defendants carried out a series of murders – bludgeoning, butchering, and strangling their victims with sadistic glee,” the prosecutor said in a press release announcing the plea agreement. “These are people without remorse or pity. When it comes to eradicating these gangs, the United States cannot afford to either relent or fail. As the facts of this case show, the stakes are too high.”
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The three members of the gang identified as “high-level” by investigators and, in turn, slated for the highest sentences are Walter Antonio Chicas-Garcia a.k.a. Mejia, 28, Wilson Jose Ventura-Mejia a.k.a. Discreto, 29, and Miguel Angel Aguilar-Ochoa a.k.a. Darki, 40. Marlon Miranda-Moran a.k.a. Chinki, 26, also recently agreed to spend 35 years in federal prison for his role in the conspiracy.
In August, four other co-defendants – Luis Ernesto Carbajal-Peraza, a.k.a. Destino, 33, Edgardo Martinez-Rodriguez a.k.a. Largo, 35, Carlos Alexi Garcia-Gongora a.k.a. Garcia, 27, and Wilman Rivas-Guido a.k.a. Inquieto, 29 – pleaded guilty in the same case.
In court documents, prosecutors cataloged a litany of brutal crimes – murders carried out with machetes, baseball bats, and even using their bare hands to strangle. Then, the defendants took and sent photographic evidence of their butchery back home – in an effort to terrorize and intimidate the family members of the slain.
Those crimes, prosecutors said, were largely committed as part of rituals aimed at attaining and gaining esteem in the MS-13 ranks.
“The defendants committed these unthinkable acts to maintain their status in a gang that spread fear in local neighborhoods and targeted those brave enough to cooperate with law enforcement,” DOJ spokesperson Matthew R. Galeotti added in a separate press release. “Today”s guilty pleas send a powerful message that the Justice Department will aggressively pursue and hold accountable MS-13 members who use violence and murder to terrorize our communities.”
The criminal enterprise identified by investigators in the Houston area also included extortion, drug trafficking, robbery, and obstruction of justice – by way of witness tampering. Throughout the months of those specific schemes, MS-13 leaders in El Salvador would provide their lieutenants with objectives – including ordering and approving specific murders, authorities say. Sometimes, the gang’s leadership would listen in during phone calls as victims were tortured and killed.
In June 2018, Victor Castro-Martinez, 25, was hacked to pieces at Cullinan Park in nearby Sugar Land – a large city and suburb of Houston. On the day of his death, the victim had been identified as an informant, then-Houston Police chief Art Acevedo announced at the time, according to the Houston Chronicle. Castro-Martinez’s remains were found with recording equipment affixed. Four members of MS-13 were said to be present and/or involved in that particular murder.
Other murder targets were chosen because they were believed to be members of rival gangs or just generally “working against MS-13’s interests,” according to federal prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, Martinez-Rodriguez, Garcia-Gongora, and Rivas-Guido agreed to a term of 45-50 years in prison, while Carbajal-Peraza is expected to receive 40-45 years behind bars. Each of the defendants are slated to be sentenced later this year.
Several other alleged members of the gang have been charged in connection with the Houston crime wave in a variety of indictments.
