Gang Leader Henry Zelaya Sentenced to Life in Prison

This case brings to light a legal little known Federal Statute called RICO. Under this statute, a member of a gang can be prosecuted for the activities of the organization. In this case a member of a gang called MS-13, Henry Zelaya age 21, has been sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted in a jury trial of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving murder, robbery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, which were activities the gang was involved in.

There were two co defendants convicted along with him, Jose Hipolito Cruz Diaz aged 28, of Lanham, Maryland and Omar Vasquez aged 29. The trial lasted seven weeks and ended on April 27. The sentence was handed down on Monday.

The testimony showed that the defendants were leaders of MS-13 and that they did conspire to operate as such in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties in Maryland and did commit racketeering activity including five murders in Maryland and one in Virginia, using deadly weapons that included firearms, baseball bats, machetes, bottles and knives and they used these to commit murders, attempted murders, assaults on an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, juvenile females and rival gang members, as well as kidnapping, robbery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Specifically, it showed that Zelaya, who was the leader of the MS-13 Teclas Locos Salvatruchos (TLS) clique, murdered one Noel Gudiel, a rival gang member, on April 20, 2003, in Langley Park, Maryland. Further testimony showed that Zelaya and other MS-13 members sexually assaulted two juvenile females at a "skipping party" on May 12, 2003, and in addition, Zelaya and MS-13 member Walter Noel Barahona assaulted a rival gang member on Oct. 21, 2003.