U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced El Salvadorian national Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno, a/k/a “Insolente” and “Trankilo,” age 24, of Landover, Maryland to life in federal prison, for conspiring to participate in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise also known as MS-13, and for three counts each of murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, as well as for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine.
Alvarado-Requeno was convicted of those charges on November 23, 2021 after a four-week trial.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly; Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono, of the FBI Washington Field Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge Selwyn Smith of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore Office; Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Bedford County (VA) Sheriff Michael W. Miller.
“The brutal and tragic violence perpetrated by Alvarado-Requeno and his fellow MS-13 gang members is totally unacceptable. Today’s sentence sends the message that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and our local and state partners are working together to remove these violent international gang members to keep our communities safe from the threat of MS-13,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron.
“Members of the Sailors Clique of MS-13, including Alvarado-Requeno, spread fear in local communities using violence and extortion,” said Steven M. D’Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office. “He directly participated in the brutal murder of a teenager, and directed and planned four other homicides with his MS-13 co-conspirators. With today’s sentence, he will no longer be able to commit—or direct others to engage in—brutal, senseless violence against members of our communities.”
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said, “The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office has for years been dedicated to pursuing MS-13 across Long Island and dismantling the organization piece by piece, successfully prosecuting key leadership in our area and blunting gang violence in our communities. This work, however, does not end at our county borders. We are proud to have participated in the collaborative investigative effort that led to the prosecution of this dangerous criminal and further diminishes MS-13’s impact.”
MS-13 is a transnational gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador. Branches or “cliques” of MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, operate throughout Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland.
According to the evidence presented at the four-week trial, between 2015 and 2018, Alvarado-Requeno and his co-defendant, Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, a/k/a “Reaper,” age 41, of Long Branch, New Jersey, controlled and operated the Sailors Locos Salvatruchos Westside (S.L.S.W. or “Sailors”) Clique through a pattern of racketeering activity, which included murder, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, and witness tampering.
Evidence showed that the gang ran a protection scheme in and around its home base in Langley Park, Maryland, and extorted local businesses by charging them “rent” for the privilege of operating in MS-13 “territory.” The gang also trafficked in illegal drugs, including marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. A large share of the proceeds of the gang’s illegal activities were sent to gang leadership in El Salvador to further promote the goals of the gang, using structured transactions and intermediaries to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.
The Sailors Clique committed acts of violence against suspected rival gang members, as well as against its own membership for breaking gang rules. The evidence showed that in June 2016, Alvarado-Requeno ordered members of the Sailors Clique to murder a suspected rival in the woods at Malcolm King Park in Gaithersburg. Luring him with the promise of sex with a female MS-13 associate, the gang members ambushed the teenaged victim and stabbed him 153 times. In fact, the victim did not belong to any gang.
In March 2017, a member of the Sailors Clique who was hiding from law enforcement in the Lynchburg, Virginia area had a dispute with a local high school student over marijuana. In response, Alvarado-Requeno and Corea-Diaz organized a squad of MS-13 members to drive down to Lynchburg and murder the high schooler. The gang members kidnapped the student from his front lawn and cut his hand off before killing him. After the murder, the Alvarado-Requeno and Corea Diaz helped to hide and protect the killers who escaped the scene from law enforcement.
Among the most important rules of MS-13 is the prohibition against talking to law enforcement, embodied by the maxim “ver, oir, y callar – see, hear, and say nothing.” The gang enforced this rule by placing a “green light” – an order to kill – on any member of MS-13 who was thought to be informing on the gang. In December 2016, Alvarado-Requeno directed and participated in the murder of a 14-year-old member of MS-13 who was suspected of talking to the police. The boy’s remains were discovered eighteen months later in the woods outside of Germantown, Maryland.
The jury made special findings beyond a reasonable doubt that as part of the racketeering conspiracy Alvarado-Requeno murdered two other individuals and as part of the racketeering conspiracy Corea Diaz conspired to murder a third person.
On April 1, 2022, Judge Xinis sentenced Miguel Angel Corea Diaz to life in prison. Corea Diaz was convicted of the racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, cocaine, and heroin; and possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Anyone with information about MS-13 is encouraged to provide their tips to law enforcement. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations both have nationwide tiplines that you can call to report what you know. You can reach the FBI at 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713), or you can call HSI at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite commended the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, HSI, the DEA Washington and Buffalo Field Divisions, the Prince George’s County Police Department, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Bedford County Sherriff’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Barron and Mr. Polite thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Hagan, and Trial Attorneys Julie Finocchiaro and Alexander Gottfried of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, who are prosecuting the case.
