LYNN — A local MS-13 leader was sentenced to 15 years in prison for participating in a racketeering conspiracy that led to the 2018 murder of a Lynn teenager last Friday in federal court in Boston, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Djavier Duggins aka “Haze,” 32, of Lynn, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Duggins pleaded guilty to a racketeering, or RICO, conspiracy on behalf of MS-13 in April 2021.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, evidence in the case showed that Duggins had been a leader of MS-13 since approximately 2006 and was part of the core group of members who helped build up the Sykos Locos Salvatrucha” (Sykos) clique in Lynn.
MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is a transnational street gang operating in countries such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as in Massachusetts and numerous other American states.
MS-13 is organized into “cliques” or branches operating in local territories. Duggins was a full member of the MS-13 gang, a rank that is referred to as a “homeboy.” Achieving promotion to a “homeboy” in MS-13 generally requires the commission of a significant act of violence, often including murder.
As part of his leadership role, Duggins personally recruited, mentored and encouraged younger clique members to commit violence on behalf of MS-13. The gang often commits acts of extreme violence against suspected rivals, those suspected of cooperating with law enforcement and others who the gang views as a threat.
In 2012, Duggins together with another member of the Sykos clique participated in an attempted murder, stabbing the victim multiple times on a public street. For that crime, Duggins was sentenced to four and a half years in a state prison, prosecutors said.
After he was released from state prison in 2016, Duggins went back to associating with MS-13, the investigation showed, and helped co-defendant Erick Lopez Flores recruit and mentor the next generation of the gang. When co-defendant Henri Salvador Gutierrez committed a murder in 2016 in East Boston, Duggins recruited Gutierrez to the Sykos clique and initiated his promotion to a higher rank based on his prior violence, prosecutors said.
During Duggins leadership, members of the Sykos clique continued to engage in racketeering activity and violence on behalf of MS-13.
On July 30, 2018, six members of the Sykos clique participated in a murder of a teenager in Lynn. They lured the unsuspecting victim to a playground, surrounded him and repeatedly stabbed him to death at least 32 times, prosecutors said.
Although Duggins did not participate in the 2018 murder committed by other members of his clique, the court noted Duggins’ leadership role and his longstanding involvement in the gang as reasons for his 15-year sentence.
Following an investigation in November 2018, Duggins was indicted, along with five MS-13 members who participated in the July 2018 murder in Lynn. All six defendants indicted in this case have pleaded guilty, prosecutors said.
Duggins is the fourth defendant to be sentenced. Henri Salvador Gutierrez aka “Perverso” was sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 16. Erick Lopez Flores aka “Mayimbu” was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Feb. 14. Jonathan Tercero Yanes aka “Desalmado” was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Feb. 15.
