5 MS-13 members convicted in brutal Los Angeles murders

All five MS-13 members were convicted Tuesday of participating in a series of gang killings in which victims were beaten, strangled and sometimes their bodies thrown off cliffs in remote, mountainous areas near Los Angeles.

A Los Angeles County jury found 26-year-old Walter Chavez Larin guilty; Roberto Alejandro Corado Ortiz, 30; Following a nine-week trial, 28-year-old Edwin Martinez was arrested on one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the Department of Justice said.

Chavez and Corado were also convicted of two counts of violence in aid of racketeering (VICAR) murder. Martinez was convicted of three counts of Vicar’s murder. Bryan Alexander Rosales Arias, 28, was also convicted of one count of VICAR’s murder.

Bryan Rosales’ brother, Erick Eduardo Rosales Arias (27), was convicted of one count of VICAR’s murder.

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“We thank the jury for quickly returning guilty verdicts against these MS-13 offenders who engaged in horrific acts of violence and murder,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “I thank and appreciate our law enforcement partners for their work in removing members of this terrorist organization from our streets. MS-13 is a vicious and violent gang that must be eliminated from the United States, and we will not rest until we succeed in our mission.”

Federal prosecutors said the defendants killed at least six members of the rival 18th Street gang or MS-13 members who violated the gang’s rules.

Most of the victims were beaten and killed with baseball bats, machetes, and knives in or near the Angeles National Forest.

In June 2017, a victim who claimed to have a leadership role in MS-13 was taken to the Angeles National Forest and stabbed and hacked to death by killers including Chavez, prosecutors said. Some of the attackers unsuccessfully tried to decapitate him before leaving his body behind.

In October 2017, another victim, said to be an 18th Street member, was trapped and killed by two teenage girls. He was kidnapped, strangled, beaten with a baseball bat, and then fatally stabbed with a large hunting-style knife. Before his body was thrown off a cliff in the Angeles National Forest. This victim’s attackers included Corado and Bryan Rosales.

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Signature for Angeles National Forest, California. (Getty ImagesThe Angeles N)

In July 2018, a third victim was lured into the hills near Malibu with several others under the ruse of smoking marijuana and drinking beer.

As the victim stood in a scenic area, Corado shot him in the back of the head. Authorities said Corado gave the gun to Erick Rosales, who shot the victim, then passed the gun to other MS-13 members, who in turn shot at him.

The victim’s body was eventually thrown down the hill from the side of the road.

Prosecutors said Martinez killed three victims; One of them was shot and killed in December 2018 after returning from the gym and was mistaken for a gang member on 18th Street. Another was a methamphetamine-addicted MS-13 employee who was fatally shot on January 13, 2019, violating the gang’s rules. The third was a homeless man who was fatally shot on January 14, 2019, for having a tattoo believed to be associated with the 18th Street gang.

U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi said the violence “underscores the urgency of destroying MS-13 and putting its depraved members behind bars.”

“Under President Trump, MS-13 can no longer terrorize the American people with impunity: We will dismantle this foreign terrorist organization and ensure justice for its victims,” ​​he said.

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Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman noted the gang’s propensity for violence and its impact on area communities.

“MS-13 has inflicted unimaginable suffering on victims and their families in our communities,” he said.

Sentencing hearings for those sentenced Tuesday are scheduled for July 2026.