NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A high-ranking member of the MS-13 gang, currently behind bars for another offense, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, the Justice Department said Thursday.
According to the indictment, Amilcar Romero, a/k/a "Soldado," is a member of MS-13, a transnational racketeering enterprise that operates throughout North and Central America, including in El Salvador, Mexico, New York, California, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
To enrich the enterprise, protect and expand its criminal operations, enforce discipline among its members, and retaliate against members of rival gangs, members and associates of MS-13 committed, conspired, attempted, and threatened to commit acts of violence; distributed and possessed with intent to distribute narcotics, including methamphetamine; and obtained, possessed, and used firearms.
MS-13 is organized into chapters called "cliques." Groups of cliques, in turn, are aligned as "programs," the department said. Each program is governed by a group of senior gang leaders known as the "table."
Prosecutors said Romero, a high-ranking member of MS-13's "L.A. Program" table, used a contraband prison cellphone to participate in MS-13's transnational and nationwide affairs, including communicating with and relaying orders to other MS-13 members throughout the United States and in El Salvador, while incarcerated in Calipatria State Prison in California in 2019.
According to the officials, Romero and other senior members of MS-13 conspired to extort another gang member in September 2019, who was told that he either had to repay money or be "green lit" (i.e., killed) for introducing a "bad connection" who supplied poor quality narcotics to the gang.
Romero's sentence in this case will run consecutively to his prior sentence for attempted murder imposed in California state court in 1997 and another prior sentence for conspiring to participate in the affairs of a racketeering enterprise, namely MS-13, imposed in the District of New Jersey in 2016.
"With our law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold accountable those like Romero who threaten the safety and well-being of our communities, even if they do so from prison," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
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