Feds: 13 of gang in prison

By Tim Eberly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/23/08

Thirteen members of a violent metro Atlanta gang were sentenced to federal prison this week for crimes ranging from robbery and carjacking to drive-by shootings and murder.

Four members of the so-called Sur-13 gang, also known as Surenos-13, were given life sentences without the possibility of parole for murder convictions, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

All but one of the men, once they get out of prison, will be deported.

On the long list of the convicted is Nicasio Calderon Uribe, 36, who started the Atlanta sect of the predominantly-Hispanic gang in 1995. He was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

The man who took Uribe's spot when the leader got caught in a cycle of prison terms and deportations, Armando Prudente, 34, received a life sentence.

Prudente emerged as the gang's leader in 1999, and his conviction stemmed from a Gwinnett murder in April of that year. He ordered four others to retaliate against a rival gang, the Brownside Locos, and gave them weapons to do so, authorities said.

The foursome drove to territory claimed by Brownside in Gwinnett and targeted a man in a Monte Carlo, authorities said. One man leaned out of a passenger window and fired two shots at the victim, Rogelio Guzman, who was not a gang member, authorities said.

Another Sur-13 member, 28-year-old Israel Cruz, was convicted of murdering a man at a Fulton County recreation center in December 2003. He fatally shot Florentino Marcial during a clash with a rival gang. Marcial was not in the gang.

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