Five New Jersey gang members were sentenced to prison today
and Monday of this week for conspiring to participate in racketeering
activities and committing murders on behalf of the racketeering enterprise
known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R.
Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Paul
J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey announced.
Santos Reyes-Villatoro, aka “Mousey,” 43, of Bound Brook,
New Jersey, Julian Moz-Aguilar, aka “Humilde,” 29, of Plainfield, New Jersey,
and Hugo Palencia, aka “Taliban,” 24, of Plainfield, were each sentenced today
to life plus 120 months in prison. Mario Oliva, aka “Zorro,” 30, and Esau
Ramirez, aka “Panda,” 25, both of Plainfield, were sentenced Nov. 27, 2016 to
life plus 120 months in prison and 169 months in prison, respectively.
All five defendants were previously convicted following a
16-week trial before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler of the District of
New Jersey. Reyes-Villatoro, Oliva,
Moz-Aguilar and Palencia were each convicted of racketeering conspiracy, murder
in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm in a violent federal crime and murder
resulting from a federal firearm crime. Ramirez was convicted of racketeering
conspiracy and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.
According to the documents filed in this case and the
evidence presented at trial, MS-13 is a national and transnational gang with
branches, or cliques, operating throughout the United States, including in
Plainfield. All of the defendants were
members of the Plainfield Locos Salvatruchas (PLS) clique of MS-13 that was
founded by Reyes-Villatoro and operated in Union, Somerset and Middlesex
Counties. Reyes-Villatoro, Oliva and
Roberto Contreras, aka “Demonio,” 28, of Bound Brook, all served as leaders, or
First Word, of PLS.
According to the trial evidence, from 2007 through September
2013, MS-13 members from PLS committed five murders in furtherance of MS-13’s
objectives. On Feb. 9, 2009,
Reyes-Villatoro, acting as the leader of PLS, drove Moz-Aguilar and other MS-13
members through the streets of Plainfield searching for rival gang members,
eventually stopping at the Plainfield train station. There, Moz-Aguilar used a firearm previously
provided by Reyes-Villatoro to murder a victim who was believed to be a member
of the Latin Kings, a rival gang.
On Feb. 27, 2010, Oliva drove a female member of MS-13 to an
empty parking lot in Piscataway, New Jersey, and murdered her because she was
suspected of working with law enforcement.
Oliva then fled New Jersey with the assistance of Contreras and hid from
law enforcement with the MS-13 Pinos clique in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
On Nov. 11, 2010, Palencia drove another MS-13 member to the
area around Barack Obama Academy in Plainfield, where they encountered students
challenging MS-13. Palencia pulled over,
provided a firearm to another MS-13 member and instructed him to shoot at one
of the individuals. The MS-13 member
shot into the crowd, killing a bystander.
On Jan. 10, 2011, Moz-Aguilar, Contreras and other MS-13
members were in a car when they spotted a suspected 18th Street gang member in
front of a restaurant. Contreras stopped
the vehicle and an MS-13 member exited, approached the suspected rival gang member
and shot him in the head.
On May 8, 2011, Cruz Flores, aka “Bruja,” 30, of Bound
Brook, murdered a victim who was caught socializing with 18th Street gang
members. Flores and another MS-13 member
cut his throat, beat him with a bat and stabbed him in the back 17 times. An MS-13 member involved in this murder fled
New Jersey and was driven to Maryland soon after law enforcement began
searching for him.
The evidence presented at trial also showed that Jose
Garcia, aka “Chucky” and “Diabolico,” 24, of Plainfield, recruited and hired
MS-13 members from the Maryland-based Pinos clique to come to New Jersey and
murder a woman in exchange for $40,000. The Pinos clique members were arrested
by authorities as they pulled into Plainfield, before the murder could
occur. In addition, after several MS-13
members were arrested in July 2011, Ramirez and Garcia used phones from inside
the Union County, New Jersey, jail to order the murder of three witnesses
believed to be cooperating with police and responsible for their arrests.
Members of PLS also were responsible for an attempted murder of suspected Latin
King members near a car wash in Plainfield; the attempted murder of suspected
Latin King members in January 2009; a machete attack in May 2011 and another in
June 2011 on the train tracks passing through Plainfield; an attempted murder
shooting in Plainfield in May 2011; and several other violent crimes, including
extortion, robbery and several weapons offenses.
The defendants were originally charged in a 26-count
indictment returned by a federal grand jury in September 2013. Currently, 13 of the 14 individuals charged
in that indictment have been convicted, and one defendant remains a fugitive. Contreras, Garcia and Flores await
sentencing.
The FBI’s Newark Field Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations and ICE Homeland
Security Investigations investigated the case.
The Union County Prosecutor’s Office provided substantial assistance in
the investigation. The Somerset County,
New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office; Middlesex County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s
Office; U.S. Attorney’s Offices of the Eastern District of Virginia and the
District of Maryland; Plainfield Police Department; Union County Police
Department; Union County Sheriff’s Office; Elizabeth, New Jersey, Police
Department; North Plainfield, New Jersey, Police Department; Union County
Department of Corrections; Prince George’s County, Maryland, Police Department;
and the U.S. Marshals Service also provided assistance in this matter. Trial Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg of the
Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S.
Attorneys James Donnelly and Jamari Buxton of the District of New Jersey are
prosecuting this case.