BOSTON — MS-13 gang member Eliseo Vaquerano Canas pleaded guilty last Friday to participating in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) conspiracy that led to the 2018 murder of a 17-year-old Lynn teen.
The 21-year-old El Salvador native, also known as “Peligroso,” was initially indicted in federal court in 2018 following an investigation into the murder of Herson Rivas, whose body was found in a Lynn park on August 2 of that year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The victim was found dead with dozens of sharp force trauma wounds consistent with being stabbed numerous times, prosecutors said.
Vaquerano Canas pleaded guilty last Friday to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. As part of his guilty plea, he admitted that on, or around, July 30, 2018, he participated in the teenager’s murder, prosecutors said.
Two other MS-13 members, Erick Lopez Flores, 31, of Lynn, also known as “Mayimbu,” and Marlos Reyes, 20, of Chelsea, also known as “Silencio,” have already admitted to their participation in the homicide, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Lopez Flores and others had lured the victim to the wooded park a few days before his body was found, and killed him because they did not believe he was sufficiently loyal to the group.
Vaquerano Canas, along with Lopez Flores and Reyes were three of six alleged MS-13 members arrested in October 2018.
Five of the six were alleged to have participated in the murder, according to the Liz McCarthy, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney’s office, adding that the cases for the three remaining defendants are still pending. None of the alleged participants have been sentenced.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, MS-13 is a transnational street gang operating in Massachusetts and numerous other states, as well as countries such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. MS-13 members follow certain core rules and principles, including an oath from members to attack and attempt to kill members of rival gangs, and for members to not act as informants or cooperate with law enforcement.
The gang is organized in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the form of “cliques,” or smaller groups that operate under the larger mantle of the international organization.
Vaquerano Canas was alleged to be a member of the Sykos Locos Salvatrucha clique of MS-13. Court documents showed that he had “homeboy status” in MS-13, which is generally achieved by committing a significant act of violence.
Vaquerano Canas is scheduled for sentencing on June 18. He faces up to life in prison, and will be subject to deportation upon the completion of his sentence. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
