Four members of the violent street gang MS-13 have been convicted in federal court for their roles in the murders of three victims during a 2017 crime spree in Southern California that included one killing so brutal the victim’s heart was carved from his chest, his body dismembered and dumped into a canyon.
The verdicts against Angel Amadeo Guzman, 31, of Panorama City; Fernando Garcia Parada, 28, of Panorama City; Edgard Velasquez, 43, of Reseda; and Jose Jonathan Castillo, 34, of Koreatown were all returned Thursday.
All four defendants remain in federal custody and were found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and violent crimes in aid of racketeering, including murder.
According to prosecutors, the killings were carried out under MS-13’s internal rules that demand extreme violence and murder as a way for members to advance within the organization.
The gang operates through local cliques, including the Fulton clique in the San Fernando Valley and the Francis cliq around MacArthur Park and is funded through drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and other criminal activity.
Between March and June 2017, prosecutors said the defendants took part in three separate killings in and around Angeles National Forest.
The first killing occurred in March 2017 after a victim was accused of defacing rival gang graffiti.
Prosecutors said Edgard Velasquez authorized the murder. Angel Amadeo Guzman, Garcia Parada, and others abducted the victim, strangled him unconscious, and transported him into the forest.
There, the group attacked him with machetes before dismembering his body, removing his heart, and throwing remains into a canyon.
In April 2017, Guzman and co-conspirators targeted another man who had fled El Salvador without permission while under investigation by MS-13 for allegedly cooperating with law enforcement.
Prosecutors said gang members used a fake Facebook account posing as a teenage girl to lure him to the forest, where he was killed.
The final murder took place in June 2017.
Castillo, Garcia Parada, and others killed an MS-13 associate who was accused of exaggerating his status within the gang.
He was taken to the forest and stabbed and hacked to death.
US District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. has scheduled sentencing for Oct. 20.
Each defendant faces a mandatory life sentence in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors said the case has resulted in more than 30 convictions overall.
In November, five additional MS-13 members were convicted in related murders tied to efforts to gain rank within the gang, with sentencing hearing
All four defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 20 and each faces a mandatory life sentence in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors said the case has led to more than 30 convictions in total, with additional MS-13 members convicted in November in related killings tied to internal efforts to rise in gang rank.
Sentencing for those defendants is expected in the coming months.