Jose Lainez Martinez, 29, of Silver Spring, was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to participating in a murder related to his involvement with the MS-13 gang.
Lainez Martinez, an El Salvadoran national, also was sentenced to five years of supervised release for his role in a racketeering conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland.
According to his plea agreement, beginning from at least January of 2020, Lainez Martinez was a member or associate of the MS-13 Fulton Locos Salvatruchas (“FLS”) clique and agreed with members of MS-13 to conduct and participate in the gang’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity that included murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion and drug distribution.
Lainez Martinez admitted that, to assist the gang to raise money, he participated in the sale of marijuana and the collection of extortion money from brothels and other businesses, providing the proceeds to gang leadership, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
In the Spring of 2020, Lainez Martinez’s gang agreed to retaliate after members of a rival gang were believed to have been involved in an assault, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. On May 25, 2020, Lainez Martinez and other members of his gang gathered in a park in Silver Spring to discuss plans for the following morning.
Then, at about 7 a.m., gang members approached a man as he was leaving his Silver Spring apartment and fired handguns, hitting him eight times and killing him.
Following the murder, Lainez Martinez and co-defendant Oscar Efrain Zavala Urrea went to Annapolis where they met a third MS-13 gang member. Lainez Martinez and Zavala Urrea changed their clothes and disposed of the old clothing. They gave the third gang member a backpack containing two firearms for safe keeping, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
A few days later, Maryland State Police stopped the third gang member who had the backpack containing the two firearms.
Urrea, age 23, an El Salvadoran national who also lived in Silver Spring, previously was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for his participation in the racketeering conspiracy.
— US Attorney Maryland (@USAO_MD) March 26, 2024
