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It was one of many offenses that jurors agreed were committed by Juan Pablo “Humilde” Escalante-Melgar, 31, Elmer “Locote” Cruz-Diaz, 33, and Oscar “Snappy” Sanchez-Aguilar, 25 – among them, extortion, witness tampering, and drug trafficking.
Federal prosecutors told the jurors that Escalante-Melgar and Sanchez-Aguilar instructed an MS-13 member and an MS-13 recruit to kill a suspected rival gang member so that the MS-13 recruit could become a full member.
Soon after, Jose Urias-Hernandez, was shot and killed execution-style with a single shot to the back of his head as he entered his apartment building in 2015, they said.
Urias-Hernandez wasn’t a gang-banger, they said.
He'd come to the United States from El Salvador a few years earlier to work with his older brother at the River View Diner in North Bergen. After washing dishes during the day, he went to a language center to learn English at night.
“These individuals planned and executed the murder of an innocent person, ending a life through senseless violence due to mistaken identity,” said Jason Molina, the Special-Agent-in-Charge of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark Field Office.
Escalante-Melgar and Cruz-Diaz also conspired to kill a fellow MS-13 member, whom Salvadoran MS-13 leaders had “green-lighted” – or ordered to be executed – because he was suspected of cooperating with law enforcement, federal prosecutors said.
Mara Salvatrucha – MS-13 – was founded in Los Angeles and is now active in New Jersey, among several other states, as well as in El Salvador, Central America, and Mexico.
The group is governed by a strict set of rules, including a standing order to kill rival gang members and a ban on cooperating with law enforcement.
Two “cliques,” or sub-units in and around Hudson County were controlled by two of the convicted men, federal authorities said: Escalante-Melgar was the “First Word” of Pinos Locos Salvatrucha, while Cruz-Diaz was the “First Word” of Hudson Locos Salvatrucha.
Besides the killings, MS-13 members trafficked drugs, extorted a restaurant operating in the gang’s turf, and intimidated witnesses to prevent snitching, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael Honig said.
Escalante-Melgar, Cruz-Diaz, and Sanchez-Aguilar – all Salvadoran nationals -- were among ten defendants charged.
All three were tried and convicted together of El Salvadoran nationals of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, including murder in aid of racketeering, Honig said.
“The convictions secured were years in the making, from the original arrests on immigration charges to convictions that include the murder of an innocent man,” said ICE-ERO Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris. “The cooperation [among] various law enforcement agencies cannot be overstated here, as it led to these vicious criminals being taken off the streets."
The verdicts "cannot bring back the life of José Urias Hernandez,” the U.S. attorney said, “but they do ensure that these defendants will be held accountable for their actions.
“We thank the jury for its service, and we reiterate our commitment to investigating and prosecuting MS-13 members, and others like them, who bring bloodshed to our communities.”
Honig credited special agents of the FBI, officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Removal Operations Newark Field Office, special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations and detectives with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and West New York Police Department for the investigation leading to the verdicts, secured by trial attorney Matthew J. Hoff of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Desiree Grace, deputy chief of her Criminal Division.
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