MS-13 Gang Leader Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Conspiracy To Commit Murders, Extortion
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Jorge Guerra-Castillo, 40, of Silver Spring, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to participate in racketeering activities, including two murders and two attempted murders, according to a statement from the Maryland District of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
He could face between 32.5 and 45 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Oct. 15.
Guerra-Castillo was a member of the Fulton Locos Salvatruchas clique in MS-13 who approved and arranged for gang members to kill a man on April 7, 2015 by luring him to a wooded area in Frederick, where they struck him with a machete until he died, according to the statement. The MS-13 members buried the victim's body in that area.
Before May 10, 2015, Guerra-Castillo forced the second victim to make regular extortion payments to the gang. He then directed gang members to kidnap and kill the man on May 10, 2015, when he stopped making the payments, according to the statement. Gang members forced the man into a vehicle, took him to a wooded area and were about to kill him but didn't when the man agreed to pay. He was then released.
Guerra-Castillo approved gang members killing a third man on Aug. 28, 2015, after surveilling him and his girlfriend. They went to his apartment that day, waited for the couple to return and attacked them with a machete and knives, according to the statement. They both survived, but the man suffered severe wounds to his face and both hands were nearly severed. He lost all function in one hand and has only limited use of the other.
In the final incident to which Guerra-Castillo pleaded guilty, he admitted to approving and assisting in planning a murder of a rival gang member. On June 24, 2017, Guerra-Castillo's girlfriend lured the victim to a location so other gang members could kidnap and kill him. They took him to a secluded area in Crownsville, where a grave had been dug already. They attacked the man with a machete and knives until he died, then dismembered the man and buried him in the grave, according to the statement. This murder was to maintain and increase both the status of MS-13 and the gang's members.
