A Quick Recap of MS-13 Activity in Maryland

Given the attention paid to Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, the “Maryland man” alleged to be a member of MS-13 removed to his country of nationality, El Salvador, due to what the government admits (perhaps inaccurately) was “administrative error”, it’s likely time for a quick recap of the gang’s activities in the Free State. How many “Maryland men” are really gang members? More than most elected officials who claim to care about immigrant communities would likely admit.

MS-13

A few basic facts about MS-13 — formally “Mara Salvatrucha 13” — are commonly agreed upon. Much else is based on scattered reports and conjecture.

InSight Crime describes it as “perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere”, originating in “the poor, refugee-laden neighborhoods of 1980s Los Angeles” before extending its reach “from Central America to Europe”.

When I was an INS trial attorney in the 1990s, and an immigration judge in the early 2000s, MS-13 was akin to Keyser Söze from the 1995 thriller The Usual Suspects: a shadowy, violent, and malevolent entity blamed for nearly all criminality and destabilization in the “Northern Triangle” countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

That was likely because MS-13 was a shadowy, violent, and malevolent entity, with enough power and money to corrupt local officials and an indifference to the human impacts of the savagery it deemed essential — or efficacious — to its twisted business model.

In 2004, after the gang returned to its American roots and expanded its operations in the United States, the FBI set up an MS-13 National Gang Task Force, to “coordinate cooperation among local and State law enforcement agencies, including facilitation in the flow of information among these agencies in order to dismantle MS-13”.

That was after the 2003 killing of 17-year-old Brenda Paz, pregnant at the time, by two gang members, Ismael Juarez Cisneros and Oscar Antonio Grande. Paz, who had been scheduled to testify against gang members in Virginia and Texas, was found stabbed to death on a riverbank in Shenandoah County, Va., in a crime that shocked the nation.

Cisneros and Grande were convicted in the killing in 2005 but spared the death penalty.

In an April 2 press release, DOJ reported that MS-13 currently “has more than 10,000 members regularly conducting gang activities in at least 10 states and Washington, D.C.”

Maryland

“At least 10 states” is an undercount, but in any event one of those states is Maryland, where MS-13 has been on the rise for a while.

A February 2018 Washington Post article headlined “‘Vying for control’: How MS-13 uses violence and extortion in America’s jails” noted that 50 of the approximately 900 inmates in the Prince George’s County, Md., jail — 5.5 percent of the population — “were tied to MS-13”, and that the gang had then been “linked to nearly a dozen killings since 2015” in neighboring Montgomery County, Md.

That month, my colleague Jessica Vaughan published a Backgrounder detailing the results of research the Center had conducted on more than 500 MS-13 members who had been arrested for crimes in the United States since 2012.

As she noted, those crimes were reported across 22 different states, with Maryland (85 crimes) coming in just second to California (92) — the ancestral home of the gang — when it came to the highest number of arrests.

By my count, those Maryland crimes included more than 16 homicides or attempted homicides — most committed in the D.C. suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties but including two others in Annapolis (the state capital), and one in Crownsville, like Annapolis in Anne Arundel County.

In February 2020, U.S. Attorney Robert Hur (yes, that Robert Hur) boasted that the Maryland district office he then oversaw “prosecuted more defendants in MS-13 cases than any other federal district from 2017 through 2018 — a total of 77 prosecutions”.

DOJ Press Releases on MS-13 Crimes in Maryland

The trend Hur described, with a high-volume of federal prosecutions in Maryland of MS-13 crimes, has continued. Here are excerpts from a few DOJ press releases on indictments and convictions of MS-13 members in Maryland under the Biden administration:

• “MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy Involving Murder and Attempted Murder” (May 6, 2021): “A Maryland man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise by murdering a suspected rival gang member and attempting to murder two other victims, in connection with his MS-13 gang activities.”

• “MS-13 Member Sentenced to 35 Years’ Imprisonment for Racketeering Conspiracy and Other Violent Crimes” (September 16, 2021):

  A Maryland man was sentenced yesterday to 35 years in prison for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and other charges in connection with his La Mara Salvatrucha, aka “MS-13” gang, activities between 2015 and 2019.

• “Nine MS-13 Gang Members Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy” (January 7, 2022): “A federal judge in the District of Maryland unsealed a superseding indictment today charging nine members of La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) with racketeering conspiracy involving murder, extortion and money laundering.”

• “MS-13 Leader Sentenced to Life in Prison for Racketeering Offenses Connected to Five Murders in Maryland and Virginia” (April 25, 2022):

  A Maryland man was sentenced today to life in prison for his conduct in connection with La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise, also known as MS-13.

  . . .

  According to court documents, Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno aka Insolente, aka Trankilo, 24, of Landover, Maryland, was convicted on multiple racketeering-related offenses on Nov. 23, 2021 after a four-week trial. Alvarado-Requeno was convicted of three counts each of murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine.

• “MS-13 Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder in Aid of Racketeering” (May 25, 2022):

  An El Salvador man was sentenced today to life in prison for murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.

  . . .

  Evidence at both trials established that between 2015 and 2017, Sandoval-Rodriguez and his co-defendants engaged in a pattern of racketeering, drug trafficking, extortion, murder, and brutal acts of violence against suspected rivals of the gang in an effort to increase MS-13’s power in the Frederick County, Montgomery County, and Anne Arundel County areas of Maryland.

• “Three MS-13 Leaders Convicted of Racketeering Conspiracy” (September 29, 2022):

  A federal jury convicted three men for conspiring to participate in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise, commonly known as MS-13, through a pattern of racketeering activity, including murder, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, and witness tampering.

  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Luis Flores-Reyes, aka Maloso, aka Lobo, 41, of Arlington, Virginia; Jairo Jacome, aka Abuelo, 40, of Langley Park, Maryland; and Brayan Contreras-Avalos, aka Anonimo, aka Malia, aka Humilde, 27, of Langley Park, Maryland, ran a protection scheme with MS-13 in and around Langley Park, extorting local businesses by charging them “rent” for the privilege of operating in MS-13 “territory.”

  Flores-Reyes, Jacome, and Contreras-Avalos also participated in at least six murders during the period of the conspiracy, mostly of victims who they believed to be gang rivals. In June 2016, members of MS-13, including Contreras-Avalos, stabbed to death two homeless individuals, who were believed to be members of the 18th Street gang, in Hyattsville, Maryland.

• “Three MS-13 Gang Members Convicted of Racketeering Conspiracy” (December 19, 2022):

  A federal jury in the District of Maryland convicted three members of La Mara Salvatrucha — a transnational criminal enterprise also known as MS-13 — on Dec. 16 for racketeering conspiracy.

  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between August 2018 and April 2019, Jose Domingo Ordonez-Zometa, aka Felon, 33, of Landover Hills, Maryland; Jose Rafael Ortega-Ayala, aka Impaciente, 30, of Greenbelt, Maryland; and Jose Henry Hernandez-Garcia, aka Paciente, 29, of Annandale, Virginia, participated in the MS-13 criminal enterprise by engaging in acts of violence, including murder, the destruction of evidence, and witness tampering, among other crimes. The criminal acts were committed by gang members to increase MS-13’s power in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including Maryland and Virginia.

• “MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy and Murder” (March 6, 2023): “A Maryland man was sentenced today to life in prison for racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and conspiring to destroy evidence connected to his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).”
• “MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced for Racketeering Conspiracy and Murders” (May 19, 2023): “A Maryland man was sentenced today to 28 years in prison for his part in a racketeering conspiracy, including two murders, related to his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).”

• “MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy, Including Murder” (September 25, 2023):

  A Maryland man was sentenced today to life in prison for racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering conspiracies, for committing murder in aid of racketeering, and for conspiracy to destroy and conceal evidence in connection with his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a transnational criminal enterprise.

• “Two MS-13 Gang Members Sentenced for Murder Conspiracy” (November 9, 2023):

  Two La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members were sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering in connection with their participation in the Weedams Locos Salvatrucha (WLS) clique of the MS-13 gang.

  Endy Arturo Gaitan Campos, aka Clandestino, 30, of Hyattsville, Maryland, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison, and Jorge Isaac Argueta Chica, aka Timido and Enano, 23, of Gaithersburg, was sentenced last week to six years in prison.

• “MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced for Racketeering Conspiracy” (January 29, 2024): “A Maryland man was sentenced today to 26 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy, including murder, connected to his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise also known as MS-13.”

Things haven’t slowed down much now that Trump is back in office.

On March 20, DOJ issued a press release captioned “Maryland MS-13 Gang Members Indicted for Murder in Aid of Racketeering”, which reported: “A federal grand jury has charged Manuel Erazo Alvarado, also known as Castigo, 46, and Erick Guillen Pleitez, also known as Kilo, both of Annapolis, Maryland, with murder in aid of racketeering.”

At least they weren’t described as “Maryland men”.

State Offenses

Of course, those are just a sampling of federal charges — not state ones — against MS-13 members.

One such case involved MS-13 member Anderson Diaz Blanco, who was found guilty in the murder of 27-year-old Antoine Dorsey in Prince George’s County in 2022.

As the local ABC affiliate reported in October 2024: “According to prosecutors, Dorsey was shot in the head at point-blank range while he was kneeling. Diaz Blanco is also facing new charges for an attempted murder and rape allegedly committed while in jail.”

That case gained local notoriety because the state court judge sentenced Diaz Blanco to just 10 years in jail, even though state sentencing guidelines called for a life sentence.

Then there are the cases of gang members Elmer Lopez-Cortez and Junior Del-Cid, who were sentenced to three life terms plus 105 years for first-degree murder and associated crimes in February.

In November 2022, the pair shot and killed 19-year-old Willians Anderson Alberto Cruz and wounded two others, whom they did not know but believed — erroneously — had defaced nearby gang graffiti.

Likely the most prominent such case, however, involved Walter Martinez, a Salvadoran national who entered illegally as a minor in March 2022 and was released to a sponsor in Maryland.

Four months later, he raped, tied up, and strangled to death 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton in a mobile home in Harford County, Md., where they each were renting rooms.

Although he was a suspect in that killing, the then-17-year-old Martinez was allowed to attend a local public school prior to his arrest in January 2023. He was convicted of murder and his defense attorney admitted at the time of sentencing that he was an MS-13 member. He received life with all but 70 years suspended due to his age.

As the state’s attorney’s office noted in its press release on the case: “Following his arrest, Martinez authored a letter while incarcerated at the Harford County Detention Center where he admitted to committing 4 murders, 2 rapes, and additional other crimes.” That means there are other unsolved crimes out there, somewhere.

“Van Hollen’s El Salvador Visit Was a Slap in the Face”

Harford County was where Rachel Morin — a 37-year-old mother of five — was raped and murdered while jogging in August 2023 by Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a Salvadoran national who entered illegally earlier that year.

Morin’s killing — and other brutal crimes committed by aliens who had entered illegally under the prior administration — became flashpoints in the 2024 presidential election.

On April 29, her mother Patty Morin published an opinion piece on the Fox News website headlined “My daughter was murdered by an illegal immigrant. Sen. Van Hollen’s El Salvador visit was a slap in the face”, in response to a visit the senior senator from Maryland paid to El Salvador to check on Abrego Garcia’s well-being.

As Morin stated therein:

This month, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen took it upon himself to use taxpayer dollars to charter a plane to El Salvador and advocate that a MS-13 gang member in prison be brought back to the U.S. Rather than working for Americans and the victims of migrant crime, Van Hollen spends his time actively making American lives worse and championing dangerous criminals from another country. This isn’t compassion. It’s recklessness.

It’s a slap in the face to my family and his other constituents. Not only to my daughter and others who’ve been affected by migrant crime, but to every Marylander whose lives are put in danger because of Van Hollen’s new sanctimonious initiative advocating for illegal criminals.

Keep in mind that when he was Rep. Van Hollen (D-Md.), he was a vocal advocate for anti-gang efforts. For example, during a July 2006 hearing of the House Committee on Government Reform titled “MS-13 and Counting, Gang Activity in Northern Virginia”, he made the following statement:

Let me begin by thanking Congressman Tom Davis [R-Va.] for convening this hearing on a very important issue, which obviously impacts the people of Fairfax County, northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and other parts of Maryland. It really is a regional issue, a national issue, and when you’re talking about gangs like MS-13 and some others, it’s gangs with international reach. And we need to approach these on a regional basis and with our support from our national partners as well. [Emphasis added.]

Perhaps he’s not so grateful for that “support from our national partners” anymore.

Today, many elected officials in Maryland (and elsewhere) claim they promote “sanctuary” policies out of concern about the security of their “constituents”: citizen and “noncitizen”, “documented” and not.

When you read the press releases and news articles detailing crimes MS-13 members have committed in the state, though, a few things become apparent — nearly all are aliens, most here illegally, and they prey on the underprivileged and those immigrant communities the state’s “sanctuary” proponents purport to be protecting.

Nobody in Chevy Chase is giving into their extortion, few in Potomac see graffiti let alone deface it, and while I haven’t checked, the number of Georgetown Prep students sharing mobile homes with recent migrants is almost definitely zero.

How many “Maryland men” are MS-13 gang members preying upon immigrant communities? More than Sen. Van Hollen and other state grandees would likely care to admit, and they’re engaging in organized mayhem that almost exclusively affects the immigrant communities they claim to care so much about. I have the press releases to prove it.