Thread: NJ-Reputed gang member convicted in Elizabeth murder

Reputed gang member convicted in Elizabeth murder
by Judith Lucas/The Star-Ledger
Friday September 12, 2008, 1:57 PM
An alleged member of a El Salvadoran street gang was convicted today of murdering a man he thought insulted him at an Elizabeth bar.

Juan Jose Castillo, 23, a native of El Salvador who lived in Elizabeth, stabbed Manuel Rodriguez after an argument at the El Quixote Bar on Sept. 25, 2005.


Juan Jose Castillo"The victim bumped into the defendant on his way to the bathroom," said Assistant Union County Prosecutor James Donnelly who tried the case in Superior Court in Elizabeth. "A short time later the two began yelling at each other across the bar and the defendant flashed a hand signal that bartenders recognized as a gang sign."


Authorities say Castillo is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, also known as MS-13. During the bar argument, he lifted his shirt and showed "MS" which was tattooed on his stomach. His arms carried the numbers, "1" on the right, "3" on the left.

Castillo was thrown out of the bar, but waited for Rodriquez outside.

At 2:45 a.m. as the bar emptied and Rodriguez emerged, Castillo stabbed the 25-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, twice in the chest. The knife blade punctured Rodriguez' heart. Rodriguez died on the way to University Hospital in Newark.

Six months later, when Castillo was captured, he initially denied he was the attacker. Later he admitted he was drunk.

During the trial, New York State Police investigator Hector Alicea, who was called in by the prosecution as a gang expert, said he is convinced Castillo was following gang protocol by exacting revenge for the perceived slight of him and his gang.

"The gang problem that exists in the county and especially in the large cities like Elizabeth is responsible for so many senseless deaths, like this one," Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said. "Every effort is being made by this office to remove the scourge from the streets, to make the city a safer place to live and work."

Castillo faces 30 years to life in prison when Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim sentences him on Nov. 14 for murder and weapons possession.







http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/0 ... icted.html

fedup

Thanks so much for all the articles you post.

Juan Jose Castillo another fine import from El Salvador