Andy Tovar, MS-13 Leadership, Virginia 2024

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In a landmark case, Andy Tovar, 33, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his leadership role in multiple violent crimes, including a 2017 murder in Charlottesville and two 2019 attempted murders in Prince William County.

Tovar, considered to be one of the highest-ranking MS-13 members in the United States, was the First Word or leader of the Guanacos Lil Cycos Salvatruchas (GLCS) clique of MS-13. He authorized members and associates of the GLCS clique to travel from Prince William County to Charlottesville to murder an individual the GLCS clique believed was a rival gang member in July 2017.

At Tovar’s direction, on or about July 3, 2017, four members of the GLCS clique stabbed the victim to death over 140 times using a machete and knives before they dumped the victim’s body in a river, burned his car, and fled back to Prince William County. The victim was struck so hard by the machete that the machete’s handle broke.

Tovar celebrated the Fourth of July with two of his co-conspirators and congratulated them on what they had done for the clique the following day.

In March 2019, Tovar’s co-defendant, Roberto Cruz Moreno, 22, aka “Solo,” of Woodbridge, picked up three other members or associates of GLCS and Victim-2 and drove them to an isolated area in Bristow. There, one associate of GLCS, using a firearm supplied by Tovar, shot Victim-2 multiple times and another associate of GLCS attempted to slit Victim-2’s throat and stabbed him because members and associates of GLCS believed Victim-2 was disrespecting MS-13.

Tovar informed MS-13 leadership in El Salvador of this attempted murder and mocked the GLCS associate who shot Victim-2 for being unable to kill Victim-2.

Tovar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering activity, attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity, and using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, all in relation to Victim-1, Victim-2, and Victim-3.

The case against Tovar was a result of a three-week trial of his co-defendants, which provided evidence of Tovar’s leadership role in the violent crimes.

Tovar, a resident of White Post, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.

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