COLUMBUS (AP) — The government has announced four guilty pleas by alleged members and associates of the MS-13 gang in central Ohio, including two men who could receive life sentences.
The four are among 29 individuals charged in central Ohio in recent years in a racketeering conspiracy that includes five brutal killings in Columbus and Perry County as well as attempted murder, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, assault and other charges.
Martin Neftali Aguilar-Rivera, aka Momia, of Columbus, and Jose Bonilla-Mejia, aka Espia, of Santa Maria, Calif., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Monday to their roles in the murders and other crimes, which could land them in prison for life, according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman.
Aguilar-Rivera, 34, admitted his role in all five slayings and, in a plea-bargain arrangement, Bonilla-Mejia, 30, his part in the murders of three men.
The charges include a 2006 killing in Perry County and four killings in Columbus in 2008, 2015 and 2016.
The murders often involved defendants using weapons like machetes, knives and hammers to attack and beat their victims to death. In two of the charged murders, the victims were stabbed and slashed with bladed weapons before being buried in a nearby park.
Jose Manuel Romero-Parada, aka Russo, 24, and Jose Salvador Gonzalez-Campos, aka Danger), 28, both of Columbus agreed to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and to accept responsibility for taking part in multiple homicides and other gang-related crimes, including drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering. They could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison, Glassman said.
In February 2018, 23 individuals were charged in a second superseding indictment and alleged to be members and associates of MS-13 in Columbus.
The government says El Salvador-based MS-13 consists chiefly of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Authorities say the gang has more than 10,000 members and associates operating in at least 40 states, including Ohio.