BOSTON — Two MS-13 gang members have admitted to participating in the 2018 killing of a teenage boy in Lynn, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Erick Lopez Flores, 31, aka “Mayimbu,” of Lynn, and Marlos Reyes, aka “Silencio,” 20, of Chelsea, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, also known as RICO conspiracy, on behalf of the MS-13 gang, during separate federal court proceedings held on Tuesday.
As part of their plea, the two men admitted they participated in the July 30, 2018 homicide of a teenage boy who was murdered “with extreme atrocity and cruelty, and with deliberate premeditation,” in violation of Massachusetts law, prosecutors said.
The boy’s body was found in a wooded area in Lynn on Aug. 2, 2018. The victim was found with dozens of sharp force trauma wounds consistent with being stabbed multiple times, prosecutors said.
Investigators determined that Lopez and others had lured the boy to the wooded park a few days earlier, where they murdered him because they did not believe he was sufficiently loyal to the group, prosecutors said.
Lopez Flores and Reyes are two of six MS-13 members who were arrested in October 2018 in connection with the crime.
La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, is a violent transnational criminal organization whose branches, or “cliques,” operate throughout the United States, including Massachusetts. MS-13 members often commit acts of violence against rival gang members and those suspected of cooperating with law enforcement, among others, prosecutors said.
Lopez Flores and Reyes belonged to the “Sykos Locos Salvatrucha” clique of MS-13, which operated in Lynn, Chelsea and other parts of Massachusetts. Lopez Flores has been identified as one of the leaders of that particular clique and both defendants admitted that their racketeering activity on behalf of MS-13 involved acts including murder, prosecutors said.
Sentencing for both men is scheduled for Oct. 14. A charge of RICO conspiracy involving murder carries a sentence of up to life in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine up to $250,000 and restitution.