September 15, 10

NEWS / MS-13 Gang Leader Sentenced to Life in Prison for Racketeering Offenses Including the Murder of a Wi

WASHINGTON - Juan Carlos Moreira, aka “Stokey” and “Stocky,” was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to life in prison for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise known as MS-13, conspiring to and committing murder in aid of racketeering, witness tampering murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering. Judge Chasanow also ordered that Moreira pay $4,886 in restitution for the funeral and burial costs of Randy Calderon, whom Moreira shot and killed.



The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Theresa R. Stoop of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief Roberto L. Hylton of the Prince George’s County, Md., Police Department; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the FBI; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of Homeland Security Investigations; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County, Md., Police Department; Chief Darien L. Manley of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, Montgomery County Division and Chief Larry M. Brownlee Sr. of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, Prince George’s County Division.



According to his plea agreement, Moreira, 30, a native of El Salvador who resided in Silver Spring, Md., was a leader of the Sailor Locos Salvatruchos Westside (SLSW) clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. A gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, MS-13 has members operating throughout Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, and elsewhere inside and outside of the United States. Moreira was born in El Salvador where he was “jumped in” to the SLSW clique. In 1998, Moreira entered the United States illegally and, along with four other people, founded the SLSW clique in Maryland in the summer of 2000. From that time until the summer of 2003, Moreira held the leadership position of “First Word” of the Maryland SLSW clique, which required him to lead clique meetings, represent the clique at general and regional meetings, direct the activities of the clique and pay dues.



According to the statement of facts, Moreira and other members of SLSW stabbed an MS-13 member from a Virginia clique on Jan. 1, 2003, after Moreira and the other MS-13 member had a verbal confrontation at a party.



Moreira also admitted that in the early months of 2003, he and the Sailors clique possessed a MAC-90 automatic assault rifle, as well as 7.62 mm ammunition for the rifle. On April 9, 2003, Moreira sold the rifle for $1,500 to an undercover law enforcement agent.



According to the plea agreement, MS-13 members Nelson Bernal and Randy Calderon murdered a suspected rival gang member, Eliuth Madrigal, in Moreira’s apartment in Silver Spring on Nov. 22, 2003. Moreira was in an upstairs bedroom at the time of the murder. When Moreira was informed of the murder, he ordered Calderon and Bernal to remove the body from the apartment and led the group in cleaning up the murder scene. Moreira later attempted to cover up the murder by painting the walls and changing the carpet in the apartment, where Madrigal had been stabbed repeatedly.



Shortly after the Madrigal murder, and still on Nov. 22, 2003, Moreira directed Bernal and Calderon to accompany him to the apartment of Israel Ramos-Cruz, aka “Taylor , ” 33, who held the “First Word” leadership position of the Sailors clique at the time. After arriving at the residence, Moreira and Ramos-Cruz had a private discussion in the kitchen area while the others were in the living room, then returned to the living room and told Calderon that he and others were to paint MS-13 graffiti in celebration of Calderon’s murder of Madrigal. Ramos-Cruz gave Calderon a can of blue spray paint and instructed another member of the Sailors clique, Santos Maximino Garcia, aka “Curley,” 33, to drive Moreira and Calderon to their destination. After Garcia and Calderon left the apartment, Ramos-Cruz gave Moreira a handgun. Moreira directed Garcia to take them to an area behind a convenience store in Mount Rainier, Md., where Sailors members had previously spray painted graffiti. Moreira and Calderon exited the vehicle and a short time later Moreira fired a single shot into Calderon’s head, killing him. According to the statement of facts, Moreira and Ramos-Cruz later made statements to the effect that Calderon had to be killed because he would not have been tough and would have told police about the Madrigal murder.



On Jan. 5, 2005, Moreira and Omar Vasquez, aka “Duke,” 32, a fellow Sailors member, were involved in a fight with members of a rival gang at a fast food restaurant in Alexandria, Va., Moreira and Vasquez lost the fight and Moreira admitted that in response, on Jan. 21, 2005, he and multiple other MS-13 members went in search of the rival gang involved in the fight. They drove to an apartment building in Alexandria, where they saw a group of youths that they believed included a member of the rival gang that had fought with Moreira earlier in the month. Moreira and another MS-13 member approached the group and each fired multiple shots at the group, wounding three juvenile males, one of whom died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.



Ramos-Cruz, Garcia and Vasquez were convicted at trial. Ramos-Cruz and Vasquez were sentenced to life in prison and Garcia was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Bernal, 29, of Hyattsville, pleaded guilty to charges related to his role in the gang. A sentencing date for Bernal has not been set.



ATF’s RAGE Task Force, the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Office and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney Office provided assistance in this matter.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert K. Hur and William D. Moomau for the District of Maryland; Trial Attorney Michael Warbel of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Unit; and James M. Trusty, Acting Chief of the Criminal Division’s Gang Unit.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-crm-1021.html