An MS-13 gang leader is headed to prison for life for random NoVA killings that happened after he ordered his crew to murder rival gang members in 2019.
Melvin Canales Saldana of New York, the second-ranking member in the Sitios clique, or subunit, of MS-13, ordered rival gang members killed. But when midlevel MS-13 members couldn’t find them, they picked random victims with no connections to gangs to increase their gang status, prosecutors said.
Canales, known as “Demente,” received his sentence on Tuesday, while another member received a 14-year sentence, The Associated Press reports. They were among 12 gang members indicted in 2022 on charges that included murder, racketeering, and drug trafficking.
“At first blush the murders committed in the wake of the defendant’s order seem to be the stuff of urban legend,” prosecutors John Blanchard and Matthew Hoff wrote in court papers. “Gang members forming hunting parties and killing whoever was unfortunate to cross their path was an alien concept.”
Three other MS-13 members have been convicted for the killings of Milton Bertram Lopez and Jairo Geremeas Mayorga. Their bodies were found in a wooded area of Prince William County in June 2019.
Marvin Menjivar Gutiérrez of New York, Cristian Ariel Arevalo Arias of Woodbridge, and Carlos Jose Turcios Villatoro of Woodbridge have not been sentenced yet.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
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