Overview
- Prosecutors say members of the Fulton clique lured victims into the Angeles National Forest in 2017, stabbed one man more than 100 times, and carved out his heart as part of a string of brutal killings.
- At the Los Angeles trial this month, the government introduced a jailhouse recording of an alleged participant boasting about the murders, testimony from cooperating defendants, and a chest tattoo it says links a defendant to the crime.
- Defense lawyers argue the case lacks direct physical proof such as fingerprints or DNA and say the prosecution depends heavily on testimony from MS‑13 affiliates who pleaded guilty for leniency.
- The current trial narrows a wider 2019 racketeering indictment that named nearly two dozen suspects and follows related convictions in 2025 that used RICO tools to tie violent acts to the gang’s organization.
- Experts note MS‑13 began in Los Angeles and spread to El Salvador through deportations, and prosecutors say the alleged adoption of Salvadoran rules in L.A. marks a shift that could change how authorities investigate transnational gang violence.