A federal jury has begun deliberations this week in the racketeering and murder trial of five alleged MS-13 gang members accused of carrying out a series of brutal killings across Los Angeles County, including one near Santa Clarita, tied to the discovery of human remains following the 2019 Tick Fire.
According to prosecutors, the defendants are part of the Fulton clique of the transnational street gang MS-13, which investigators have described as “particularly violent” and operating mainly in the San Fernando Valley.
The group allegedly carried out multiple murders between 2017 and 2019 to advance within the gang’s hierarchy under what prosecutors described as “Salvadoran rules,” which required recruits to kill before becoming full-fledged members.
“In 2016, the Fulton clique decided to break from MS-13’s traditional program in Los Angeles in favor of a traditional Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha program,” read a 2023 racketeering indictment filed by the Department of Justice. “The key difference between MS-13’s traditional Los Angeles program and MS-13’s Salvadoran program was that the Salvadoran program required a prospective member to have committed at least one homicide before becoming a homeboy,” or full-fledged member…