MS-13 Gang Members Found Guilty of 2007 Murder Near Springfield Mall
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 11, 2009 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—A federal jury today found two members of MS-13 guilty of killing a rival gang member on Dec. 2, 2007, outside the Cerro Grande restaurant in Springfield, Va. To date, five MS-13 members have been convicted of gang-related murder charges in 2009 in the Alexandria federal court.
According to court documents and evidence at trial, Rafael Parada-Mendoza, aka “Cheve,” age, 22, of Fairfax County, Virginia, and Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya, aka “Dandy,” age 22, of Fairfax County, Virginia, both illegal aliens from El Salvador, approached two gang members from rival gang Southside Locos while in the parking lot of Springfield Mall, nearby the Cerro Grande restaurant. They flashed gang signs, and when the two rivals stepped out of their car, Parada-Mendoza drew a handgun and killed the closest rival, Christian Argueta, aka “I.R.” The other individual escaped.
Today, Parada-Mendoza and Perez-Amaya were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering activity, murder in aid of racketeering activity, attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, use of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death, and illegal alien in possession of a firearm. The two men and another gang member, Jorge Parada, aka “Rama,” age 29, of Washington, D.C., were also convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office; Colonel David Rohrer, Fairfax County Chief of Police; and James Dinkins, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Office of Investigations in Washington, D.C., made the announcement. Both men face mandatory sentence of life imprisonment when they are sentenced on September 11, 2009. Parada faces a maximum 30 years in prison for the cocaine conspiracy and will also be sentenced on September 11, 2009.
Evidence at trial showed that Parada-Mendoza and Perez-Amaya were members of MS-13, a violent gang that originated in Los Angeles and has local cliques throughout the United States, including northern Virginia. One prominent rule encourages MS-13 members to confront, fight and kill rival gang members, known as “chavalas.” The two gang members were accused of murdering Argueta as a means of maintaining and increasing their position in MS-13, and evidence showed they recounted their successful killing with fellow gang members at a meeting within hours after the shooting on Dec. 2, 2009.
Three other MS-13 members have been convicted of gang killing charges in 2009. Oscar Omar Lobo-Lopez, aka “Joker,” age 30, of Springfield, Virginia, and Sergio Amador Amador, aka “Dado,” age 29, of Springfield, Virginia, were convicted of killing a member of the rival 18th Street gang, Melvin Reyes, aka “Pelon,” on the night of May 5, 2007, outside Springfield Garden apartments. Amador was sentenced to life in prison on June 5, 2009, and Lobo-Lopez faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on July 24, 2009.
Erick Turcios-Lazo, also known as “Scorpion,” age 22, was sentenced on April 8, 2009, to 120 months in prison for his role in the MS-13-related conspiracy to murder L.Q., an MS-13 member suspected by other gang members of cooperating with law enforcement. As the leader of L.Q.’s clique, the Silvas Locos Salvatrucha (SLS), Turcios-Lazo attended general meetings of MS-13 where he and others discussed who would be responsible for carrying a “green light” – a signal that the gang had approved the killing of someone suspected of cooperating with police – on L.Q.
This case was investigated by the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Fairfax County Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Arlington County Police Department, Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fairfax County Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Fahey, Jeanine Linehan and Inayat Delawala prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov.