Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno, MS-13 Racketeering, Maryland 2022

A Maryland man has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in a transnational MS-13 gang.

Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno, 24, of Landover, Maryland, was convicted of multiple racketeering-related offenses including three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine.

The MS-13 gang, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, is a transnational criminal enterprise composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador. Branches or ‘cliques’ of MS-13 operate throughout Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland.

The gang, led by Alvarado-Requeno and his co-defendant Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, controlled and operated the Sailors Locos Salvatruchos Westside (S.L.S.W. or Sailors) clique through a pattern of illegal activity, including murder, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, and witness tampering.

The gang ran a protection scheme in and around its home base in Langley Park, Maryland, and extorted local businesses by charging them ‘rent’ for the privilege of operating in MS-13 ‘territory’ and trafficked in illegal drugs. A large share of the proceeds of the gang’s illegal activities were sent to gang leadership in El Salvador to further promote the goals of the gang.

Alvarado-Requeno was also implicated in the murder of a suspected rival gang member in June 2016 and the murder of a 14-year-old member of MS-13 who was suspected of talking to the police in December 2016. The victim’s remains were discovered 18 months later in the woods outside of Germantown, Maryland.

The case was investigated by the FBI, HSI, the DEA’s Washington and Buffalo Field Divisions, the Prince George’s County Police Department, the Montgomery County Police Department and the Bedford County Sherriff’s Office. The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office provided valuable assistance.

Alvarado-Requeno was sentenced to life in prison on April 1, 2022, in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland at Greenbelt.

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