MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced in Racketeering Conspiracy
Participated in Gang Activities, Including Murders, While a Juvenile

GREENBELT, MD—U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Carlos Antonio Martinez, also known as Lobo, now age 21, of Hyattsville, Maryland, today to 114 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to conduct and participate in the racketeering enterprise activities of MS-13, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

According to the plea agreement, La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is a gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, with members operating throughout Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, Maryland, and elsewhere. MS-13 is a national and international criminal organization with approximately 10,000 members.

MS-13 is organized in “cliques,” including the Sailors Locos Salvatruchos Westside, the Teclas Locos Salvatruchos and the Langley Park Salvatruchos (“LPS”). In 2002, as a young teenager, Martinez was “jumped-in” to the gang and received the gang name of “Lobo.” Martinez was a member of the LPS clique.

According to his plea agreement, Martinez participated in activities that led to the murder of Nancy Diaz. LPS clique leaders believed that Nancy Diaz was providing information to a rival gang. On October 25, 2004, Martinez furnished two MS-13 members with the gun used to kill Nancy Diaz and shoot a second girl, who also was stabbed her twice in the chest. The second girl survived the attack.

According to court documents, on March 26, 2005, MS-13 gang members were involved in a confrontation with rival gang members outside a strip mall in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The gang members contacted Martinez, who arrived on the scene with another MS-13 member, Jorge Rigoberto Amador, also known as Santo Diablo. Martinez and Amador searched for the rival gang members and, upon identifying a car containing some of the young men, Amador took out a .38 caliber revolver, wrapped in a dark colored bandana, and fired several shots from the driver’s seat of his car, killing a fifteen year old named Jose Arias. A bullet also struck the clothing of another young man. Amador and Martinez then left the scene and met up with the participants in the initial verbal confrontation, where they discussed disposing of the evidence of the crime, including the gun and the car.

By mid-August 2005, several senior members of the LPS clique had been arrested and incarcerated. According to the plea agreement, LPS members determined that Martinez was worthy of being promoted from treasurer to “second word” (a leadership position), and served in that role until his arrest on August 25, 2005.

The Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office has prosecuted 51 MS-13 members, of whom 24 members have been convicted at trial or pled guilty to RICO charges and 19 have pleaded guilty to other charges, primarily immigration or gun violations. The remainder are awaiting trial.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer praised the RAGE Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Prince George’s County Police Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Montgomery County Department of Police; the Howard County Police Department; the Maryland National Capital Park Police; the Maryland State Police; and the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department.

Mr. Rosenstein thanked the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey and Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy for the assistance that they and their offices provided.

Mr. Rosenstein and Mr. Breuer commended Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Trusty, currently on detail as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division’s Gang Unit, who prosecuted the case. Nancy Oliver, formerly a Trial Attorney with the Gang Unit, assisted in the prosecution.