Thread: MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Death

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 27, 2010

MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Death After Conviction on Racketeering Charges Related to Double Murders

WASHINGTON – Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. today formally imposed the federal death penalty sentence on Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umana, aka "Wizard," announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina. A 12-person federal jury in Charlotte, N.C., voted unanimously on April 28, 2010, to impose the death penalty against Umana after convicting him on April 19, 2010, on charges related to the murders on Dec. 8, 2007, of Ruben Garcia Salinas and his brother, Manuel Garcia Salinas. Umana is the first La Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 member in the United States to receive the federal death penalty.

Umana, 25, of Charlotte, was convicted by the jury on all charged counts, including conspiracy to participate in racketeering; two counts of murder in aid of the racketeering enterprise known as MS-13; two counts of murder resulting from the use of a gun in a violent crime; possession of a firearm by an illegal alien; one count of extortion; and two criminal counts associated with witness tampering or intimidation. During the sentencing phase, the jury also found that Umana was responsible for other murders. Specifically, the jury found that on July 27, 2005, Umana killed Jose Herrera and Gustavo Porras in Los Angeles, and on Sept. 28, 2005, Umana participated and aided and abetted the killing of Andy Abarca in Los Angeles.

Umana was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 23, 2008. Witnesses testified at his trial that Umana was a veteran member of MS-13 who illegally came to Charlotte to assist in reorganizing the Charlotte MS-13 cell. Witnesses also testified that on Dec. 8, 2007, while in Las Jarochitas, a family-run restaurant in Greensboro, N.C., Umana shot Ruben Garcia Salinas fatally in the chest and Manuel Garcia Salinas in the head. Witnesses testified that the shootings took place after the Garcia Salinas brothers had "disrespected" Umana’s gang signs by calling them "fake." Firing three more shots in the restaurant, according to trial testimony, Umana injured another individual with his gunfire. Trial testimony and evidence showed that Umana later fled back to Charlotte with MS-13 assistance. Umana was arrested five days later in possession of the murder weapon. Additional evidence and testimony from the trial revealed that while Umana was incarcerated pending trial, he coordinated attempts to kill witnesses and informants. During trial, Umana attempted to bring a knife with him to the courtroom, which was discovered by U.S. Marshals prior to Umana being transported to the courthouse.

"Violent gangs like MS-13 terrorize communities across this country," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. "As the evidence in this case showed, murder and intimidation are a way of life for some members of this gang. Although there is no punishment that will bring back the lives taken by the defendant, this series of prosecutions of MS-13, and the punishments imposed, should make abundantly clear to gang members that we will not let them operate with impunity. As today’s sentence shows, their criminal actions have serious consequences."

"The imposition of the death penalty - the harshest sentence in the criminal justice system - is a sobering event for all involved in the investigation and prosecution," said U.S. Attorney Tompkins. "The death penalty in this case is fair, just, and merited. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, based upon the facts and evidence, advocated for the death penalty, and the jury agreed that Umana deserved nothing less than the death penalty. I commend the investigators and prosecutors for engaging in this critical process with professionalism and integrity."

"While the outcome of today’s hearing does not change that two innocent people are dead, it will hopefully bring closure to the families and loved ones of the men who were killed and the many other victims left in the wake of the MS-13 crime spree. This case has spanned international borders, taken years of investigation and thousands of hours of arduous work. It proves our law enforcement partners are determined to bring those who break the law to justice, regardless of the obstacles that may block the path," said Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI.

"Our goals as law enforcement officers are to put an end to gang violence and see that those who are responsible are punished. This sentence serves as a reminder that gang violence has harsh consequences, and those who choose to be involved in gangs need to understand that their actions will not be tolerated. We have the motivation and determination to keep pursuing gang members. That motivation creates a safer Charlotte," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe.

The investigation of the MS-13 enterprise in Charlotte has led to charges against 26 MS-13 members. In addition to Umana, six defendants were convicted at trial in January 2010, and 18 others have pleaded guilty. One defendant remains in custody in El Salvador. To date, 11 of the 25 defendants convicted have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to 20 years.

The case was investigated by the Charlotte Safe Streets Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Chief Criminal Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, and Trial Attorney Sam Nazzaro from the Criminal Division’s Gang Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Don Gast and Adam Morris of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina were also members of the government’s trial team.

10-856 Criminal Division

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-crm-856.html

GOOD!

Feds Seek Capital Punishment To Curb Gangsby Carrie Johnson

October 17, 2010

Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umana has an unfortunate claim on history. He is the first member of the MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, gang to be sentenced to death under the federal system of capital punishment, according to the Justice Department.

Prosecutors and FBI officials say the Umana investigation, which took them from North Carolina to California to El Salvador, is a model for how federal authorities will attack a growing gang threat that is leaching into smaller cities across America's heartland.

Umana is only 25. But over the course of his relatively short life, he allegedly killed five people in his role as a traveling evangelist for the MS-13 gang.

For the past few months, Umana has been living on federal death row in Indiana. Federal prosecutor Jill Rose helped put him there. "He murdered two men in a very busy restaurant in Greensboro, N.C., on a Saturday night. It was a few weeks before Christmas. He and some other gang members were having dinner in this restaurant," Rose says.

Two brothers who did not belong to a gang were eating nearby. They exchanged words with Umana. Then, Rose says, things went south.

"Mr. Umana stood up, pulled a Ruger 45 semi-automatic pistol out of his waist and blasted away there in the middle of this busy restaurant. He killed our two victims, continued to shoot as he backed out of the restaurant," Rose says.

Police captured Umana a few days later and arrested him on state charges in North Carolina. His lawyers say there was even a deal on the table: plead guilty to the state charges and serve life in prison.

"You know, here's a guy who probably, if the normal state prosecution had proceeded, he probably would have been locked up for a significant period of time if not the rest of his life," says John Bryson, who defended Umana.

Enter The Feds

But then the federal authorities entered the picture, taking over the state case and finding three other murders Umana allegedly committed.

Federal authorities have turned the investigation into a model for their strategy: to build bigger national prosecutions of gangs, to work with investigators across the U.S. and Central America, and to sometimes ask a jury to vote for capital punishment.

Aaron Escorza leads the FBI's national task force against the Mara Salvatrucha gang. He says that MS-13 is one of the most violent gangs in the U.S., with 10,000 members in more than 40 states.

"[Umana's] was probably one of the most significant MS-13 cases on the books for the FBI. More than anything we really used that investigation as the model for the way these transnational gang cases should be worked," Escorza says.

Budding Problems

The FBI says international street gangs like MS-13 are moving into heartland cities that may not have much experience prosecuting them, which makes federal help in investigating all the more important.

"As you get across the country and realize that places like Charlotte and Nashville and Greenbelt, Md., have the same budding gang problems that larger cities have had, you realize there's a need to team up and share the sort of experience that we're gathering here in Washington with folks that might benefit from it on the road," says Jim Trusty, who leads the Justice Department's gang unit.

Trusty and his team are going on the road and working with counterparts in Central America. The Justice Department recently merged two separate teams to devote more resources to the surge in gang activity.

According to Lanny Breuer, who leads the Justice Department's criminal division, an expert in capital punishment is also on the newly merged team. "There will be cases with respect to gangs at times where we will seek that ultimate punishment, where the facts and the crime are so egregious and deserving [of] it," Breuer says.

A Matter Of Prestige?

Martin Sabelli, a lawyer in California with extensive experience defending MS-13 cases, says taking gang cases like Umana's to the federal level and asking for the death penalty sound like a stretch.

"In this case, you've got a kid who's essentially convicted for what could have been really characterized as a street crime not associated with [MS-13]. The only theory tying it to the gang is that the fact of committing a murder is allegedly something that gains the defendant some sort of prestige or some sort of rank in the organization," Sabelli says.

Prestige matters to Umana. Like many MS-13 members, he is covered with tattoos. As the trial went along this year, prosecutor Jill Rose says Umana flashed gang signs to intimidate witnesses and tried to smuggle a sharp piece of metal into the courtroom.

"He was defiant from the beginning to the end. [For his] final words to the judge when the death penalty was being imposed ... he thumped his fist over his heart and said, 'And as for the rest, Mara Salvatrucha,' " Rose says.

Umana, a citizen of El Salvador, is beginning to work on his death penalty appeal and waiting to get new lawyers to help with a process that could take years to resolve.

www.npr.org

These are the scumbags that obama is allowing to enter and stay in our country.