Five men were convicted of murdering two teens in Virginia after a trial that pulled back the curtain on the gang’s ruthless operations.
“I was the one that was talking, and didn’t want them to know it was me,” Castro testified in federal district court in Alexandria in June.
Ronald Herrera Contreras, Duglas Ramirez Ferrera, Pablo Miguel Velasco Barrera, Henry Zelaya Martinez and his brother, Elmer Zelaya Martinez — who was the leader of an MS-13 cell operating in Northern Virginia — face mandatory sentences of life in prison. All are in their mid-20s to early 30s.as part of the investigation, prosecutors said. Six of them, including Castro, cut deals with federal prosecutors to give court testimony in hopes of reducing their prison terms.
In the footage, according to one witness, dozens of blows with a machete or other weapons can be heard as Elmer Zelaya Martinez curses the victim and orders different crew members to take turns striking the 14-year-old. A video that lasts aboutAfter one of the videos was shown, a juror sent a note to the judge requesting that the jury be warned before a graphic video was to be played in the courtroom.
“The homeboys needed evidence, ma’am, and what evidence could be better than that?” one witness who participated in the 14-year-old’s killing, Yonathan Melgar Martinez, said in response to questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebeca H. Bellows. He was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in aid of racketeering.
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