Andrew Alvarado, Murder Spree, California 2025

Alvarado, 34, of Salinas, California, was sentenced to 38 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy and 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to murder in aid of racketeering. The two sentences will run concurrently.

The ‘Murder Squad’, a crew of Salinas-based Norteño criminal street gang members falling under the Monterey County Regiment Enterprise affiliated with the Nuestra Familia prison gang, conducted numerous ‘hunts’ between 2015 and 2018. During this time, 11 people were killed and 17 others were shot at but survived.

Between January 2017 and May 2017, Alvarado personally participated in six ‘hunts’ as a member of the ‘Murder Squad’. He was the shooter in three of those hunts, resulting in the deaths of three victims and the wounding of a fourth.

The ‘hunts’ were often conducted with military-style tactics, with a designated shooter vehicle and a designated security/spotter vehicle. The security/spotter vehicles would patrol the streets, find a target, and transmit their location to the shooter vehicle.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman handed down the sentence. Alvarado pleaded guilty on April 15, 2025, to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to murder in aid of racketeering.

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian stated, ‘Gangs and the drugs and violence they bring with them wreak havoc on our communities and the hardworking families that live within them. The ruthless actions of the ‘Murder Squad’ shattered the public’s sense of safety and destroyed the lives of so many in Salinas.’

Alvarado is the sixth member of the ‘Murder Squad’ to be sentenced. In addition to the prison term, Judge Freeman also sentenced the defendant to a five-year period of supervised release on count one and a three-year period of supervised release on count two, to run concurrently.

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