http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02391.html

Gang Facing Federal Charges
Jailed Suspect Said To Direct Crimes

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 6, 2006; B01



Even after he was locked up on state murder charges in Prince George's County, an alleged leader of the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha continued to direct the criminal activities of his group by sending letters to a female member of the gang, according to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday.

Gang members also watched a videotape of a Prince George's police detective who had been investigating them and discussed killing him, the indictment alleges. And members killed a young man to prevent him from cooperating in a federal probe of the gang, according to the indictment.

The 53-page indictment, made public in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, supersedes an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury last August that charged 19 young men with federal racketeering counts.

That indictment was the first racketeering case brought in Maryland against the gang, signaling an increased federal involvement in local efforts to combat it. The gang, also known as MS-13, is comprised primarily of Salvadoran immigrants with some other Central Americans and Mexicans and began showing up in the Washington area in the late 1980s.

The indictment released yesterday provides additional details about the gang's alleged activities and what police say are its efforts to derail investigations and intimidate witnesses. It charges that members committed six murders and attempted four murders in suburban Maryland from April 2003 to June 2005.

Eight of the attacks occurred in Prince George's, and the other two in Montgomery County.

The superseding indictment names two additional defendants: Emilia Masaya, 20, of Adelphi, and Lisbeth Delcid, 21, of Woodbridge.

Delcid helped a jailed MS-13 leader, Henry S. Zelaya, communicate with gang members, according to the indictment.

On April 20, 2003, Prince George's police said, Zelaya was one of five men who killed a young man on a residential street in Langley Park. Noel B. Gudiel was slain after he was asked if he was with Vatos Locos, a clique affiliated with MS-13, and answered yes, according to the charging documents.

When Gudiel fell to his knees, Zelaya pulled out a handgun and shot him in the head, according to the charging document, which was filed to support Zelaya's arrest on a state murder charge. Prince George's prosecutors have dropped the murder charge so the federal investigation can take priority.

The federal indictment gives this account of Zelaya's actions in jail:

On Sept. 2, 2003, Zelaya wrote eight letters to MS-13 members, "care of Lisbeth Delcid," in which he encouraged them to continue to commit crimes during his incarceration.

Zelaya wrote that the gang members should "keep moving forward walking with your head held high for the Big Mara Salvatrucha Thirteen that rapes, kills, and controls and to hell with the [expletive rival gang members]."

On Feb. 24, 2004, Zelaya mailed a letter to Delcid instructing gang members to make contact with other members of MS-13 in El Salvador and to use Delcid as a conduit to pass information to him.

Delcid also helped obtain a gun for use by MS-13 members, the indictment alleges.

On Dec. 5, 2003, the indictment alleges, Masaya provided false information to Montgomery police who were investigating a murder committed by MS-13 members. It says she also lied Aug. 1, 2005, when she said while testifying under oath to a federal grand jury investigating MS-13 that she knew nothing about the murder she had been asked about and when she said she knew of MS-13 only from news reports.

Delcid and Masaya appeared yesterday in federal court in Greenbelt. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jillyn K. Schulze told them that lawyers will be appointed for them and scheduled detention hearings Monday for both.