MIAMI – Federal, state, and native legislation enforcement collaboration in South Florida has resulted in homicide prices and convictions towards members of the MS-13 gang, a transnational prison group acknowledged as a terrorist group.
The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of Florida, the FBI Miami, the Broward Sheriff’s Workplace, and different legislation enforcement companies collaborated to resolve 4 native homicides linked to MS-13.
This cooperation has resulted in federal indictments within the Southern District of Florida on prices of homicide in help of racketeering exercise, convictions with necessary life sentences for six MS-13 members and associates, and pending dying penalty prices towards three defendants.
“9 MS-13 terrorists have been taken off our streets, and 4 chilly homicide instances have been solved due to the nice investigative work of the FBI and our legislation enforcement companions,” U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi stated. “Let this be a lesson: Irrespective of how lengthy it takes, we’ll by no means surrender in our pursuit of justice.”
Bondi revealed that three of the gang members are charged with the “brutal homicide of a younger man” in Florida in 2015.
The sufferer was allegedly stabbed roughly 100 instances by a number of gang members earlier than shot within the head.
Bondi stated one of many defendants sought out the sufferer, satisfied him to return with him in his automotive, took him to a criminal offense scene the place the gang members are all charged with “violently stabbing him, nearly like a sport to get the next degree of their gang initiation.”
“These indictments are a warning to all criminals, we don’t care how way back you dedicated the crime. We don’t care the place you go. We are going to discover you, we’ll arrest you, and we’ll prosecute you to the fullest extent of the legislation,” Bondi stated.
The investigation, which started in 2015, centered on two murders in Oakland Park, Florida, the place victims O.G., 18, and C.O., 25, have been killed, in accordance with the press launch.
In 2020, the Broward Sheriff’s Workplace Chilly Case Unit reopened these instances and partnered with FBI Miami and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, uncovering two extra murders with comparable traits: G.V.P., 22, in Palm Seaside, Florida, and J.C.L., 18, whose physique was found in Oakland Park in Could 2021.
Via investigative methods and fashionable applied sciences, the crew pieced collectively proof displaying that MS-13 was answerable for the 4 homicides.
“The heartless and brutal actions of those ruthless and violent criminals exhibit an entire disregard for human life,” Broward County Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony stated.
“BSO’s Chilly Case Murder investigators, who labored intently with our federal companions, proved as soon as once more that justice has no expiration date. We owe it to the households of the victims and to this neighborhood to ensure the individuals who dedicated these heinous crimes are held accountable.”
Within the 2022 federal case, Andy Tovar, Wilson Tirado-Silva, Miguel Angel Cabrera-Granados, Melvin David Cruz-Ortiz, Kevin Ricardo Gamez-Melendez, and Wilber Geovanni Vigil-Benitez have been all convicted of homicide in help of racketeering exercise. Every defendant faces a compulsory life sentence.
Within the March 2025 case, Jose Ezequiel Gamez-Maravilla, Hugo Adiel Bermudez-Martinez, and Wilber Rosendo Navarro-Escobar are charged with homicide in help of racketeering exercise. These instances are pending, and the defendants face a compulsory minimal sentence of life in jail and a most sentence of dying.
“These vicious and callous acts by MS-13 not solely shattered lives but in addition undermined the security and safety of South Florida communities,” U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of Florida Hayden P. O’Byrne stated. “We are going to discover you; we’ll prosecute you; and we’ll apply the complete pressure of American justice.”
