Two MS-13 Members Sentenced 25 Years In Prison For Violent Racketeering Conspiracy, Murder
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Two MS-13 gang members will each spend 25 years in prison for their gang-related activity that led to the murder of an associate of a rival gang.
25-year-old Francisco Ramirez Pena and 21-year-old Edwin Ruiz Urrutia are sentenced to 25 years each in federal prison on a federal racketeering charge related to a violent racketeering conspiracy, MS-13, including a murder.
An MS-13 associate, Darvin Guerra Zacarias, 27, of Silver Spring, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in the conspiracy to murder the victim.
According to their plea agreements, all three conspired with other MS-13 members and associates to engage in racketeering activity, including murder, conspiracies to commit murder, extortion and drug trafficking to further the interests of the gang.
In June 2017, MS-13 gang members believed that the victim, known as "Victim 18," was an associate of the rival 18th Street gang. Guerra-Zacarias was there when gang members, including Ramirez Pena and Ruiz Urrutia, were talking about how to lure out Victim 18 to murder her.
On the day of the murder, Guerra-Zacarias picked up MS-13 members and a female associate who was supposed to lure out Victim 18.
The associate got Victim 18 to get into Guerra-Zacarias's car where they drove to another area and subdued Victim 18. They then went to a secluded area in Crownsville where Guerra-Zacarias dropped them all off and he and the associate left.
When he left, gang members subdued the victim, choking her and attacking her with a machete and knives until she was dead. Her body was dismembered and buried in a grave they made.
Investigators found Victim 18's body in September 2017 from the grave. A medical examiner found that her head had been severed and her body had been cut into several pieces.
29 people have been charged in this case with participating in a racketeering conspiracy and other crimes related to MS-13.
