An Eastern District of Texas federal grand jury recently indicted seven members of the criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha for a Jan. 31 prison attack on its rival gang members.
According to an April 7 Department of Justice news release, the 15-count indictment against the organization members, also known as MS-13, included charges relating to two deaths, two attempted murders and a near weeklong lockdown of all Federal Bureau of Prisons inmates.
“Transnational violent gangs are a significant threat to our national security whether they are entrenched within our communities or incarcerated in our correctional facilities,” Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Mark Dawson said, according to the release. “This indictment demonstrates our commitment to disrupting and dismantling this threat.”
According to the release, MS-13 was established in Los Angeles, but is made up of "mostly immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador." Many members of the gang are also from Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.
"The Mexican Mafia controls large portions of the Hispanic prison population in California and Texas and the federal prison system," the release states. "MS-13 has had a symbiotic relationship with both the Mexican Mafia and the Sureños, which is a close association of Hispanic gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while incarcerated in federal and state prisons in the United States. As alleged in the Indictment, however, that symbiotic relationship recently began to fall apart as MS-13’s leadership in El Salvador, the Ranfla Nacional, sought to exert more control and independence of its own members while incarcerated in prisons within the United States, including using MS-13 command and control structure to enforce their orders, including orders to commit murders, even while in prison."
According to the release, the following were the defendants on the case: Sergio Sibrian, “Anytime,” 29; Hector Ramires, “Cuervo,” 28; Jorge Parada, “Rama,” 42; Larry Navarete, “El Socio,” 41; Raul Landaverde-Giron, “Decente” and “Humilde,” 32; Dimas Alfaro-Granado, “Toro,” 39; and Juan Carlos Rivas-Moreiera, “Juan Carlos Moriera” and “Stocky," 41.
