Two 31-year-old members of the MS-13 gang were sentenced in prison for their roles in the murder of a man under the on-ramp to Route 1 in Chelsea in December 2010. Photo by Department of Justice
July 16 (UPI) — Two 31-year-old members of the MS-13 gang were sentenced in Boston to decades in prison for their roles in a murder in 2010 that was solved 14 years later.
On Tuesday, Senior District Judge William Young sentenced the La Mara Salvatrucha members: Jose Vasquez, also known as Littler Crazy, to 25 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release; and William Pineda Portillo, also known as Humlde, to 16 years to be followed by three years of supervision.
Vasquez was already serving a 212-month sentence for a conviction in May 2018 for conspiracy to participate in Racketeer Influence and Corruption Organization, or RICO. In all, his prison sentence is 37 years.
Portillo is a Salvadoran national unlawfully living in Everett, Mass., subject to deportation after he completes his sentence. In May 2023, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in RICO conspiracy.
The two men were indicted by a federal grand jury in September.
Vasquez and Pineda Portillo pleaded guilty this May to one count of violent crime in aid of racketeering.
“What these men allegedly did to their victims was particularly heinous — so much so that, over a decade later, the circumstances still stand out,” Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the Boston FBI field office said when announcing this and another murder-connected indictment.
Amaya Paredes allegedly murdered a 27-year-old in July 2020 in Dartmouth, Mass.
Vasquez and Pineda Portillo conspired with others to kill a 28-year-old man on Dec. 18, 2010, in Chelsea near Boston.
That evening, law enforcement responded to a 911 call near the Route 1 on-ramp.
The unnamed victim was found alive with about 10 stab wounds to the chest and back, along with head injuries. He was taken to a hospital where he died.
A re-examination of evidence years later from the scene identified members of the gang, including Vasquez, as committing the murder, prosecutors said.
The two believed the victim belonged to a rival gang, prosecutors said.
On the day of the murder, Pineda Portillo picked up the victim, Vasquez and other MS-13 members with a vehicle registered to his father.
In a secluded area, one gang member struck the victim in the head with a rock as another gang member stabbed him with a machete.
During the attack, Vasquez used a knife to stab him. His palm print was identified on the handle of a silver kitchen knife found at the murder scene. Also, the victim’s blood was found on the knife.
In an undercover recording obtained six weeks after the murder, an MS-13 member acknowledged his role in the murder and other members disciplined him for leaving Massachusetts without their permission.