Multiple Members of Transnational Criminal Organization ‘18th Street’ Sentenced for Roles in Various Violent Crimes Committed During Their Gang Involvement

            WASHINGTON – Elvis Mauricio Maradiaga, 23, of Bladensburg, Maryland, was sentenced today to 108 months in federal prison for his participation in a violent, transnational criminal enterprise known as the 18th Street gang.  Maradiaga was one of the last of 11 other defendants sentenced for crimes related to their involvement in 18th Street. His sentencing marks the conclusion of a sprawling, multi-year investigation into the gang’s criminal activities throughout DMV-area and abroad.

            In sum, in February 2023, a grand jury returned an indictment against 12 of the 18^th Street members, charging them with participating in a years’ long racketeering conspiracy as well as with murders, attempted murders, and kidnapping.  Of the 12 charged defendants, six proceeded to trial in April and May 2024 before the Honorable Trevor N. McFadden, were found guilty by a jury of nearly every offense with which they were charged, and were each sentenced to life imprisonment. Five defendants pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from 96 to 480 months in prison.

            The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, ICE Deputy Director Russ Hott of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO), and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The 18th Street organization engages in a variety of criminal activities abroad and throughout the United States, including in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Its activities include acts of murder, kidnapping, assault, robbery, witness intimidation, and firearms and narcotics trafficking to fuel the gang’s violent operations. The gang is active throughout Central and South America, particularly in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. It uses violence to maintain control over specific geographical areas.

            “The sentencing of these violent criminals should send a clear message: transnational gangs like 18th Street have no place in our communities and we will not tolerate the brutality, fear, and lawlessness they spread,” said U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. “Through relentless cooperation between federal, state, and local law enforcement, we are dismantling these dangerous organizations piece by piece. Our commitment to public safety is unwavering, and we will continue to pursue and prosecute those who threaten our neighborhoods with violence and crime.”

            According to court documents, members of 18th Street are required to commit acts of violence to further the interests of the gang and to maintain or increase their status within it. These violent acts are often directed against rival gang members, 18th Street members who violate gang rules or otherwise disrespect the gang, and persons who are suspected of cooperating with law enforcement. Additionally, 18th Street members sell and transport narcotics, weapons, and other contraband to generate money to support the gang and its criminal activities. Some of the proceeds of this criminal activity are wired to members of the gang’s leadership in other countries. 18th Street members control geographical areas and use violence to maintain their control.

            18th Street – which was founded in Los Angeles and now includes up to 50,000 members – is organized into “cliques,” or smaller groups operating within specific cities or regions under the umbrella rules of 18th Street. Such cliques include the Tiny Locos Sureños (TLS), Los Crazy Brothers (LCB), and the Revolucionarios. 

           This investigation began in 2019 and covered the full breadth of criminal activity 18th Street was involved in within the greater D.C. metropolitan area. Ultimately, numerous 18th Street gang members were arrested as part of the investigation and either pled guilty or were found guilty at trial in May 2024.  Regarding these sentences in particular, the charges focused on the shooting and attempted murder of C.H. on May 21, 2021, within the 5700 block of 14th Street NW, Washington, DC; the kidnapping and execution of Carlos Ramos Martinez on July 14, 2021, in a wooded area off the side of I-95 in Elkton, MD; and the murder of Danis Alcides Salgado Mata on December 19, 2021, in Rockville, MD as well as the attempted murders of his mother and stepfather.  The sentences also included defendants who pled guilty to participating in a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization (RICO) related to their involvement and knowledge of kidnappings, robberies, weapons trafficking, and narcotic trafficking committed at the behest of the gang.

            A final defendant, Milton Benjamin Guevara-Villatoro, has been extradited from El Salvador and is pending trial on two indictments related to his alleged involvement in a shooting at the Petworth Metro Station on September 17, 2019, and the murder of Carlos Ramos Martinez.

            This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

            The case was investigated by the Northern Virginia Safe Streets Task Force, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Enforcement Removal Operations, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and the Montgomery County, Maryland Police Department. The District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, and the Montgomery County, Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office provided valuable assistance.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jack F. Korba, Will Hart, and Sitara Witanachchi and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gilead Light and Christopher Marin.     

18th STREET DEFENDANTS

###

23cr43

22cr190

22cr218