In federal court in Boston, an MS-13 member recently entered a guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy.
Jose Vasquez, known as “Little Crazy,” was 24 years old when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO or racketeering conspiracy. Sentencing has been set for Aug. 30, 2018, by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV.
The TLS clique of MS-13, formally known as Trece Locos Salvatrucha, counted Vasquez among its members and local leadership. His participation in racketeering activity on behalf of MS-13 took multiple forms. On Sept. 8, 2014, for instance, Vasquez and fellow MS-13 member Angel Pineda a/k/a “Bravo” were involved in an attempted murder of a suspected gang rival in which the victim was stabbed multiple times.
Vasquez assisted other MS-13 members in burying evidence relating to a murder in East Boston in January 2016. On Jan. 10, 2016, Edwin Diaz, a/k/a “Demente,” Rigoberto Mejia, a/k/a “Ninja,” and other MS-13 members murdered a 16-year-old boy whom MS-13 members believed to belong to the rival 18th Street gang. Multiple stab wounds and gunshot wounds killed the victim. Following the killing, Vasquez—who did not personally commit the murder—helped another MS-13 member hide evidence related to the murder. He assisted in burying the knife and machete used in the murder, as well as bloody clothes worn by those who committed the crime. Law enforcement subsequently recovered this evidence.
As one of dozens of alleged leaders, members, and associates of MS-13 targeted following a multi-year investigation, Vasquez was named in a superseding indictment unsealed in January 2016 that addressed MS-13’s criminal activities in Massachusetts. The 46th defendant to be convicted in that ongoing prosecution, Vasquez now joins many others.
Pineda pleaded guilty previously and received a 93-month prison sentence. Awaiting sentencing, both Diaz and Mejia previously pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy involving murder.
The Court accepted Vasquez’s guilty plea at today’s hearing but postponed acceptance of the proposed plea agreement until the sentencing hearing. Vasquez faces a prison sentence between 15 and 18 years under the proposed plea agreement terms.