Federal prosecutors say members of MS-13 lured victims into the mountains north and west of Los Angeles — remote scenic overlooks and a helipad in the Angeles National Forest — where they carried out multiple killings between 2017 and 2019. The sites were chosen to ensure isolation, far from potential witnesses or passersby, Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall told jurors in a federal courtroom Tuesday.
According to prosecutors, five alleged MS-13 members now on trial participated in four such mountain killings and two others in Van Nuys and North Hollywood. The government said young recruits were required to kill to enter the gang, with “more ruthless” acts earning greater standing. “The more ruthless the killing, the greater the respect that was earned,” Siddall said.
One victim was stabbed 107 times while another was disemboweled while still alive, Siddall added, according to The Los Angeles Times. Prosecutors described the violence as part of a pattern that intensified around 2016, when an influx of arrivals from Central America imposed “Salvadoran rules” requiring killings to gain full membership…