A ranking member of the San Fernando Valley-based MS-13 gang was sentenced Tuesday to life in federal prison for his role in two gang-related murders, including the 2019 killing of a fellow gang member who was taken to a remote area of Santa Clarita and executed.
Walter Chavez Larin, 27, of Panorama City, also known as “Delito,” was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. after a federal jury found him guilty in November 2025 of one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Chavez was one of five MS-13 members convicted last year following a nine-week federal trial examining a series of murders committed across Los Angeles County between 2017 and 2019.
Federal prosecutors said Chavez participated in the June 2017 murder of Elvin “Winnie Pooh” Hernandez, a member of the Park View clique of MS-13 who was accused of exaggerating his position within the gang…