A reputed member of the notorious MS-13 street gang plead guilty this week to his involvement in a 2018 Lynn murder and another murder in East Boston two years earlier.
Henri Salvador Gutierrez, 22, a Salvadorian national, pleaded guilty to racketeering, also known as RICO conspiracy. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf scheduled sentencing for Oct. 8, 2021.
Gutierrez admitted he participated in the August 2018 Lynn murder of a teenage boy whose body was found in a park in Lynn. The injuries to the victim’s body indicated that the victim had been stabbed dozens of times.
Gutierrez is the fifth defendant in the Lynn case to plead guilty and accept responsibility for his participation in the Lynn teen’s murder.
In July 2020, Erick Lopez Flores, a/k/a “Mayimbu,” 31, of Lynn, and Marlos Reyes, a/k/a “Silencio,” 20, of Chelsea, pleaded guilty in separate proceedings before Judge Wolf for their participation in the Lynn teen’s murder. Last month, Jonathan Tercero Yanes, a/k/a “Desalmado,” 24, a national of El Salvador admitted that on or about July 30, 2018, he participated in the Lynn murder while a member of the MS-13 gang.
MS-13 is a transnational street gang operating in Lynn and numerous other cities across the U.S. The gang’s international influence spreads to El Salvador, where it was founded, Honduras and Guatemala. MS-13 members follow certain core rules and principles, including that members attack and attempt to kill members of rival gangs, and members do not act as informants or cooperate with law enforcement.
MS-13 is organized in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the form of so-called “cliques” or smaller groups that operate under the larger mantle of MS-13. Tercero Yanes was a member of the Sykos Locos Salvatrucha clique of MS-13. Achieving promotion in MS-13 generally requires the commission of a significant act of violence.
Gutierrez also admitted to his involvement in the Christmas Eve slaying of Luis Fernando Orellana at East Boston Stadium in 2016. Orellana’s body was found Christmas day in the ramp that leads up to the bleachers at the stadium. According to court records Gutierrez personally stabbed Orellana numerous times and committed the murder because he believed the victim may have belonged to a rival gang.
The charge of RICO conspiracy involving murder, provides for a sentence of up to life in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Gutierrez will also be subject to deportation upon the completion of his sentence. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.