LYNN — A 22-year-old Lynn gang member was sentenced to 43 years in prison Friday for his role in a RICO conspiracy that led to the July 2018 murder of a Lynn teenager, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Eliseo Vaquerano Canas, also known as, “Peligroso,” was also sentenced to five years of supervised release by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf.
Vaquerano Canas pleaded guilty in February 2021 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 racketeering activity, Vaquerano Canas, a member of the MS-13 gang, participated in the 2018 murder of a teenage boy, who was stabbed at least 32 times in a public park in Lynn, 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 Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
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, Vaquerano 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 Lynn park on Aug. 2, 2018, prosecutors said.
The evidence in this case, including a recording of one of Vaquerano Canas’ co-defendants describing the murder in graphic detail, revealed that Vaquerano Canas 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. The group pretended to be friendly with the victim and took him to a wooded area of the park, prosecutors said.
The gang members surrounded the victim and repeatedly stabbed him to death. At least four of the six assailants, including Vaquerano Canas, stabbed the victim, while two others assisted at the scene, prosecutors said.
Evidence showed that as the victim was being attacked, he called out to Vaquerano Canas for help, believing that Vaquerano Canas was his friend. Instead, Vaquerano Canas repeatedly stabbed and hacked at the victim with a large knife, prosecutors said.
Vaquerano Canas attacked the victim with such force that parts of his large knife shattered, and pieces of the blade were embedded into the victim’s skull. After killing the victim, the gang members left his body in the wooded area of a public park, prosecutors said.
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.
In a related case, the government charged a juvenile co-conspirator, who was the sixth person involved in the murder. All six defendants indicted in this case, along with the juvenile charged in the related case, have pleaded guilty, prosecutors said.
Vaquerano is the fifth defendant to be sentenced in the case.
On Feb. 14, Erick Lopez Flores, also known as “Mayimbu,” was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
On Feb. 15, Jonathan Tercero Yanes, also known as “Desalmado,” was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
On Feb. 16, Henri Salvador Gutierrez, also known as “Perverso,” was sentenced to life in prison.
On Feb. 18, Djavier Duggins, also known as “Haze,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A sentencing hearing for the last co-defendant, Marlos Reyes, also known as “Silencio,” has not yet been scheduled by the court.
