LYNN — Erick Lopez Flores, also known as “Mayimbu,” of Lynn, was sentenced to 40 years in prison and five years of supervised release for RICO conspiracy and his participation in the July 2018 murder of a teenage boy in Lynn, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Lopez Flores, 33, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf.
In July 2020, Lopez Flores pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, also known as RICO conspiracy, on behalf of the MS-13 gang, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
As part of his plea, Lopez Flores, a leader of MS-13, also admitted that he participated in the 2018 murder of a teenager, prosecutors said.
MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is a transnational street gang operating in Massachusetts and many other states, as well as countries including El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
MS-13 gang members commit acts of extreme violence against suspected rivals, people suspected of cooperating with law enforcement, and people who the gang views as a threat.
In November 2018, Lopez Flores and five other MS-13 members of the Sykos clique were indicted following an investigation into the murder of a teenage boy, whose body was found in a park in Lynn on Aug. 2, 2018, prosecutors said.
The six defendants in this case included five participants in the murder, and one member of the Sykos clique, prosecutors said.
In a related case, the government charged a juvenile co-conspirator, who was the sixth person involved in the murder, prosecutors said.
The evidence in this case, including a recording of one of Lopez Flores’ co-defendants describing the murder in graphic detail, revealed that Lopez Flores and five other MS-13 gang members murdered the victim based on their mistaken belief that he may have been assisting law enforcement, prosecutors said.
On July 30, 2018, the gang members lured the victim to a playground where at least four of them were armed with knives, prosecutors said.
The group pretended to be friendly with the victim and took him to a wooded area of the park. The gang members surrounded the victim and repeatedly stabbed him to death, prosecutors said.
At least four of the six members stabbed the victim, while Lopez Flores and a juvenile gang member assisted at the scene, and Lopez Flores authorized the murder in his capacity as one of the leaders of the clique, prosecutors said.
After killing the victim, the gang members left his body in the wooded area of the public park. An autopsy revealed that the victim suffered at least 32 sharp force trauma wounds consistent with being stabbed repeatedly, along with blunt force injuries to the head, prosecutors said.
All six defendants indicted in this case, along with the juvenile charged in the related case, have pleaded guilty.
Lopez Flores is the first defendant to be sentenced, while Jonathan Tercero Yanes, also known as “Desalmado,” is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 15 for RICO conspiracy and his participation in the July 2018 murder; Henri Salvador Gutierrez, also known as “Perverso,” is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 16 for RICO conspiracy, his participation in the July 2018 murder, and his participation in a December 2016 murder in East Boston; and Djavier Duggins, also known as “Haze,” is scheduled to be sentenced for RICO conspiracy on Feb. 17.
Sentencing hearings for the two remaining co-defendants, Marlos Reyes and Eliseo Vaquerano Canas, have not yet been scheduled by the court.
