Overview

• U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown accepted the guilty pleas and set sentencing for November.
• Plea agreements call for three defendants to receive 50 years in prison, one to receive 35 years, and the remaining four to receive 40–50 years.
• The Salvadoran nationals admitted MS-13 membership and participation in murders, extortion, drug trafficking, robbery, and obstruction in the Houston area during 2017–2018.
• Court records state that murders were ordered by leaders in El Salvador, with some killings monitored by phone and photos of victims sent to those leaders after attacks using machetes, a baseball bat, or strangulation.
• The multi-agency investigation included the FBI, HSI, local Texas agencies, and other partners, and the case is part of the Justice Department’s Operation Take Back America supported by OCDETF and Project Safe Neighborhoods.