RICHMOND, Va. -- A 64-page federal grand jury indictment shows why 400 law-enforcement officers swept across Massachusetts Friday - mostly in the Boston area - arresting more than 35 MS-13 gang members.
Murders, attempted murders, conspiracy, robberies to fund the gang, organized drug dealing - the list of alleged crimes is long. But on page 27, there's a surprise for Richmond-area residents. [RELATED: Read complete indictment]
The alleged leader of the so-called MS-13 "East Coast Program" lives here, according to the indictment.
In December, that alleged gang leader, 26-year-old Jose Adan Martinez Castro, invited "clique leaders" from across the United States for a summit here to tell them that they "needed to be more active in killing rival gang members."
WTVR CBS 6 could not determine where that meeting was, or even where in metro Richmond Martinez Castro lived.
Jose Adan Martinez Castro
Jail records indicate he was apprehended somewhere in the area on Friday and was taken to Northern Neck Regional Jail.
According to the indictment, La Mara Salvatrucha, a 30-plus-year-old criminal organization known as MS-13, is made up of "immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador."
In the Boston area, they allegedly committed a series of five murders, along with high school recruitment to find young gangbangers called "Paros" to do their dirty work.
The indictment states that gang members used firearms, machetes, knives and a bat to commit their murders and assaults.
Reportedly a third of Massachusetts' MS-13 members were captured, ranging in ages from 18 to 44.
Several of them were in the country illegally and at least three had been previously deported.
