Two Flushing MS-13 gang members were sentenced in Brooklyn federal court to decades in prison for shooting a man to death on a 7 train platform in Jackson Heights in 2019 and gunning down another victim outside his Flushing home in 2018.
Ramiro “Cara de Malo” Gutierrez, 31, was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison on Tuesday, and Tito Marinez Alvarenga, a 24-year-old who is also known as “Imprudente” was sentenced to 48 years in federal prison on Wednesday for their participation in the murders of Victor Alvarenga in 2018 and Abel Mosso the following year. Both men pleaded guilty to the crimes in January.
“In committing these terrible murders, these defendants and MS-13 put entire communities at risk, including innocent commuters,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said. “They will spend decades in prison for their crimes, and our office and our law enforcement partners will keep working to ensure that any gang member who does not learn from their example is similarly held accountable.”
In the early morning of Nov. 4, 2018, MS-13 gang members shot and killed Victor Alvarenga near his Flushing home. As proven at the trial of four co-defendants, Edenilson Velasquez Larin, a national MS-13 leader, gave the order to kill Alvarenga, and the murder was overseen by Jose Espinoza Sanchez. Gutierrez, Tito Martinez Alvarenga, Espinoza Sanchez and two other MS-13 members ambushed the victim as he was walking home, shooting him multiple times. Toto Martinez Alvarenga had called the victim multiple times prior to hi murder, and to conceal his involvement in the slaying he took his phone as he was dying. Gutierrez serves=d as the getaway driver and helped plan the murder.
As also proven at the trial of the four co-defendants, in the early afternoon of Feb, 3, 2019, Gutierrez, Tito Martinez Alvarenga and Victor Lopez followed Abel Mosso, whom they believed be a member of the rival 18th Street gang, onto the 7 train at the Main Street station in Flushing. Lopez and Tito Martinez Alvarenga attacked Mosso inside a subway car and then dragged him onto the platform when the train pulled into the 90th Street–Elmhurst Avenue subway station.
When one of the defendants pulled out a firearm, Mosso wrestled it away. Gutierrez shouted in Spanish, “Nobody get involved, we’re MS-13, we’re going to kill him.” Gutierrez then grabbed the gun from Mosso and shot him multiple times, killing him.
“As part of a vicious, ruthless international gang, these two defendants terrorized innocent people for years. Now they will pay for their crimes with lengthy prison sentences,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “The NYPD will continue to pursue justice against anyone who threatens our communities, and New York City is a safer place today with these two convicted murders behind bars.”
The sentencing are the latest in a series of federal prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York targeting members of MS-13, whose leadership is based in El Salvador and Honduras, but the transnational gang has thousands of members across the United States. Since 2003, hundreds of MS-13 members, including dozens of clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in the EDNY. A majority of those MS-13 members have been convicted of federal racketeering charges for participating in murders, attempted murders and assaults. Since 2010, EDNY has secured indictments charging MS-13 members with carrying out more than 75 murders in the district and has convicted dozens of MS-13 leaders and members in connection with those murders.
“The defendant’s ruthless actions a MS-13 members — including orchestrating the shooting of Victor Alvarenga, and the cold-blooded killing of Abel Mosso on a busy subway platform — have not only led to the loss of innocent lives but also spread fear, trauma, and devastation throughout our communities,” Homeland Security Investigations, New York Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Alfonso said. “These horrific crimes underscore the urgent need for continued coordinated law enforcement action to confront gang violence. HSI New York, together with our partners, will leave no stone unturned in protecting New Yorkers and folding those responsible fully accountable.”
