The last defendant in a prison gang conspiracy pleaded guilty in a case that resulted in a nationwide lockdown of the federal prison system after a deadly attack in Beaumont, Texas.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas Damien M. Diggs announced the plea Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
Juan Carlos “Stocky” Rivas-Moreiera, aka “Juan Carlos Moriera,” pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in a racketeering conspiracy in furtherance of the violent transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, a news release said.
Information presented in court stated that MS-13 is a transnational criminal organization made up mainly of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador. Authorities say it also includes members from other countries, such as Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.
In April 2022, seven defendants, including Rivas-Moreiera, were indicted and charged with planning and executing a violent attack by members of MS-13 against Mexican Mafia and Sureños associates that resulted in two deaths, two attempted murders, and an almost weeklong nationwide lockdown of all inmates in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Rivas-Moreiera admitted his role in the fatal prison attack and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, the news release said, adding that he was the last remaining defendant to plead guilty.
Federal authorities state that the Mexican Mafia controls large portions of the Hispanic prison population in California and Texas and the federal prison system.
They add that although MS-13 has had a symbiotic relationship with the Mexican Mafia and the Sureños — a close association of Hispanic gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia — that relationship is deteriorating, which has led to violent clashes between the groups.
The news release states that on Jan. 31, 2022, seven MS-13 members imprisoned at the U.S. Penitentiary in Beaumont attacked several Sureños members and one Mexican Mafia associate.
Rivas-Moreiera began the prison attack by approaching Guillermo Riojas and stabbing him twice in the chest, officials said. Riojas immediately fell, and other MS-13 defendants stabbed and kicked him as he was motionless on the floor.
The MS-13 members then chased, cornered, beat and repeatedly stabbed Andrew Pineda and other Sureños members, the news release said.
Riojas and Pineda died as a result of the attack.
The attack lasted approximately three minutes, authorities said.
Authorities said that MS-13 defendants Rivas-Moreiera, Dimas Alfaro-Granado and Raul Landaverde-Giron are all serving life sentences for their participation in MS-13 and for committing murder in aid of racketeering in furtherance of MS-13.
Defendant Hector Ramires also is serving a sentence of 27 years in federal prison after his conviction for participating in MS-13 and committing a murder on behalf of the gang, authorities said.
The case was coordinated between the Eastern District of Texas and Joint Task Force Vulcan, which was created in August 2019 as a government approach to dismantle transnational criminal organizations, such as MS-13, the news release said.
Since its creation, the task force has increased coordination and collaboration with foreign law enforcement partners, including those in El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
It also has identified for targeted prosecutions MS-13 programs, cliques and leaders who have the most impact on the United States. The task force also has coordinated MS-13 indictments by U.S. Attorney’s Offices, including the first use of national security charges against MS-13 leaders, such as those in the Ranfla Nacional in El Salvador, which operated as the organization’s board of directors and directed the gang’s violent, criminal activities around the world for almost two decades.
This case is being prosecuted by Eastern District of Texas Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph R. Batte; Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher A. Eason from the Eastern District of Texas and Joint Task Force Vulcan; Assistant U.S. Attorney Stewart M. Young from Joint Task Force Vulcan and the District of Utah; and Trial Attorney Jacob Warren from the National Security Division. This case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Prisons.
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