In federal court in Boston on Thursday, Oct. 26, an MS-13 member entered a guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy that involved murder, attempted murder, and armed robbery.
The defendant took responsibility for killing an innocent bystander, attempting to murder a rival gang member, and committing armed robbery.
In 2014, a shooting intended for a rival gang member instead struck down a woman inside her home. She had merely glanced toward her front window and became an unintended victim. This woman, who was sheltering from domestic violence with her three children, lost her life in the incident.
Hector Ramires, a/k/a “Cuervo,” 24, a Honduran national formerly of Chelsea, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy. U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Jan. 19, 2018. According to the terms of the plea agreement, the parties will jointly recommend a sentence of 27 years in prison. The sentencing will be determined by the federal district court judge using the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and applicable statutory considerations.
Ramires was a member of MS-13’s Enfermos Criminales Salvatrucha (ECS) clique, which operated in Chelsea and other parts of Massachusetts. On Oct. 18, 2014, Ramires and Bryan Galicia Barillas a/k/a “Chucky,” a fellow member of MS-13’s ECS clique, were walking the streets of Chelsea when they encountered a group of rival gang members. Ramires, who was armed, shot at one of the gang rivals and missed, killing a woman who was an innocent bystander who was looking out a nearby window of a room she shared with her three children. Barillas was also charged and previously pleaded guilty to, among other things, providing Ramires with the gun.
Additionally, Ramires accepted responsibility for his role in a March 28, 2014, attempted murder of a rival gang member in Chelsea, and an April 9, 2014, armed robbery in Chelsea.
Following a three-year investigation, Ramires was one of 61 persons named in a superseding indictment targeting the criminal activities of alleged leaders, members, and associates of MS-13 in Massachusetts. MS-13 is a violent transnational criminal organization whose branches or “cliques” operate throughout the United States, including in Massachusetts.
Among 22 defendants who have entered guilty pleas in this case, Ramires faces deportation following completion of his sentence.