MS-13 MEMBER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR PARTICIPATING IN TWO GANG-RELATED MURDERS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

The Realist Juggernaut first reported on Walter Chavez Larin and the sprawling Los Angeles MS-13 murder prosecution in November 2025, when a federal jury convicted five gang members following a nine-week trial centered on six killings carried out to enforce gang rules and increase status within the organization. Chavez, one of the ranking members convicted in that case, has now been sentenced to life in federal prison for his role in two of those murders.

Walter Chavez Larin, 27, also known as “Delito,” of Panorama City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. after being convicted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder.

A federal jury convicted Chavez in November 2025 following a nine-week trial. Four additional defendants were convicted during the same trial.

According to evidence presented in court, the case centered on MS-13 cliques operating in the Los Angeles area and an internal structure in which murder was used as a tool to enforce gang discipline and advance within the organization.

Federal prosecutors established that Chavez participated in two separate killings involving victims who were accused of violating gang rules.

The first murder occurred in June 2017.

The victim, identified in court documents as “E.H.,” was accused within the gang of exaggerating his position or status. Prosecutors said Chavez and other MS-13 members confronted E.H. at an abandoned property referred to by gang members as a “destroyer.”

The group disarmed the victim of a machete and assaulted him before transporting him to Angeles National Forest.

There, according to trial evidence, E.H. was stabbed and hacked to death. Several members of the group attempted to decapitate him but were unable to complete the act. They then poured rubbing alcohol over his body because they believed it would eliminate forensic evidence.

The victim’s body was ultimately thrown over a ridge.

The second killing occurred in January 2019 and involved a teenage victim identified in court records as “O.F.”

Prosecutors said Chavez placed a “green light” on O.F., a gang term indicating that the individual had been marked for death.

The order was issued because O.F. had disobeyed MS-13 rules.

The teenager was taken from a park in North Hollywood to Santa Clarita, where he was killed by MS-13 members, including Edwin Martinez and Carlos Daniel Orellana, under Chavez’s direction.

The two murders became central components of the federal racketeering prosecution because prosecutors argued they were not isolated acts of violence but part of the way the gang maintained authority, punished disobedience and reinforced its internal hierarchy.

The federal racketeering charge allowed prosecutors to present the killings as part of a broader criminal enterprise rather than treating them as unrelated homicide cases.

The Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statute, commonly known as VICAR, addresses specified violent crimes committed for the purpose of gaining entrance to, maintaining or increasing a person’s position within a racketeering enterprise.

Chavez was convicted of two VICAR murder counts in addition to racketeering conspiracy.

Edwin Martinez was also convicted at trial with Chavez. Martinez was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and three VICAR murder counts and has also been sentenced to life in federal prison.

Carlos Daniel Orellana pleaded guilty in August 2025 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is serving a federal prison sentence of 33 years and nine months.

Federal prosecutors have secured 34 convictions in the broader case, making it a substantial organized-crime prosecution involving multiple defendants connected to MS-13 activity in Southern California.

MS-13, formally known as Mara Salvatrucha 13, operates through local cliques that can function with a degree of independence while remaining connected to the broader gang identity. Federal racketeering prosecutions have often focused on the organization’s use of murder, extortion, threats and other violent conduct to enforce rules and maintain control within its ranks.

The Chavez case demonstrates how federal prosecutors can use racketeering and VICAR statutes to connect individual killings to the structure and objectives of a larger criminal organization.

The FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys William M. Larsen and Suria M. Bahadue of the Criminal Appeals Section, Jason C. Pang of the Transnational Organized Crime Section, Sara Vargas of the General Crimes Section and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric W. Siddall of the Major Crimes Section prosecuted the matter.

Chavez has now been convicted and sentenced. The life sentence follows the jury’s findings that he participated in racketeering activity and two murders committed in furtherance of MS-13’s criminal enterprise.

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