Overview
- Prosecutors won guilty verdicts for Jose Luis Reynaldo Reyes-Castillo, David Arturo Perez-Manchame and Joel Vargas-Escobar in a federal racketeering trial that concluded Monday, finding them guilty on multiple murder and RICO counts.
- Jurors deadlocked on several charges from the 34-count indictment and U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro declared mistrials on those counts, allowing prosecutors the option to seek a second trial.
- A fourth defendant, Alexander De Jesus Figueroa-Torres, pleaded guilty before the trial and testified for the government, and defense attorneys argued that cooperating witnesses had incentives that hurt their credibility.
- All three convicted men face a mandatory minimum of life in prison without parole, and a sentencing hearing for the defendants is scheduled for Nov. 10, 2026.
- Officials presented the case as part of a wider federal effort to dismantle MS-13, a gang formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s that prosecutors say carried out killings, kidnappings, drug trafficking and other violent crimes in Nevada and California.