CHARLOTTE — Six members of a notorious international gang have been convicted on crimes ranging from racketeering to murder to cocaine trafficking after a closely watched and tightly secured trial in Charlotte.
A federal jury convicted the defendants after five hours of deliberation Tuesday. Federal authorities have been watching the case closely since a 2008 sweep led to an indictment charging 26 people accused of participating in the MS-13 gang.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a statement that the gang brings lawlessness and fear into far too many U.S. communities. Authorities have said the gang has some 10,000 members in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
“Gangs are poisonous to our communities, they feed on weakness and force people to live in fear. These convictions prove gang members can’t operate in hiding and escape getting caught,” said Owen Harris, special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Charlotte.
The trial, which brought tight security and jurors whose identities were kept secret, lasted two weeks. Prosecutors contended that the MS-13 gang planned and committed robbery, extortion, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, murder conspiracy and a variety of drug crimes. The racketeering activities included four murders.
“These defendants and their gang clearly had criminal designs to rule this community through fear and violence for their own unjust benefit,” said U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan.
Prosecutors also contended that the members communicated with gang leadership in El Salvador.
Convicted in the trial were Julio Cesar Rosales Lopez, 24; Juan Gilberto Villalobos, 42; Elvin Pastor Fernandez Gradis, 34; Carlos Roberto Figueroa-Pineda, 26; Johnny Elias Gonzalez, 21; and Santos Anibal Caballero Fernandez, 24. Rosales Lopez was from Guilford County while the others were from Charlotte.
Most of the defendants who were indicted have pleaded guilty, authorities said. The murder trial of another gang member, 25-year-old Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umana, is scheduled for April, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in that case.
