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An MS-13 gang member who is in the U.S. illegally has admitted to taking part in depraved murders in Virginia and the sanctuary state of Massachusetts.
Franklin Antonio Amaya Paredes, a 28-year-old Salvadoran national who goes by the nickname “Mosca” (Insect), pleaded guilty to charges related to three sickening homicides between 2018 and 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday.
In 2018, Paredes and fellow associates from the Uniones Locos Salvatrucha (ULS) clique of MS-13 had dinner with a member of another MS-13 faction, then proceeded to strangle and beat him to death “because they believed the victim had betrayed MS-13,” according to court documents.
The victim’s remains were then buried in a wooded area in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and have not been located to this day.
Paredes and his accomplices were subsequently promoted to higher ranks within the gang.
In 2019, Paredes and other gang members ambushed a group who had been gathering and drinking on ULS “territory” in Reston, a city in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Fairfax County, Virginia.
They shot and hacked a man to death with a machete during the attack before convening at a local hotel to celebrate the brutal assault.
In 2020, Amaya Paredes shot and killed his own cousin, also an MS-13 member, at a family party in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
“After being charged with murder by state authorities, Paredes confided that he murdered his cousin because the cousin failed to ‘check in’ with MS-13 leadership when he arrived in the New Bedford area from El Salvador and had done a poor job growing MS-13 in Southeastern Massachusetts. Paredes also conspired to kill a witness to the murder while in state custody,” the DOJ says.
On Wednesday, Paredes pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court to racketeering involving murder, conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving murder, and two counts of murder in aid of racketeering.
The Salvadoran now faces life in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 10, 2026.
“This defendant – an illegal alien who’s been residing unlawfully in our country – admitted to participating in three brutal murders across state lines to advance MS-13’s violent agenda and be rewarded within the gang’s ranks,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley.
“Let this serve as a clear message: individuals who come to this country and engage in this level of violence will be aggressively investigated, prosecuted and held fully accountable. This transnational criminal organization is far-reaching, but my office will continue to use every resource to dismantle it and protect Massachusetts communities from such barbaric devastation.”
The State Department designated Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) a Foreign Terrorist Organization last year.
