Jeanette Bent
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KION-TV) — The United States Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that the sixth member in Salinas-based “Murder Squad” criminal street gang pled guilty in federal court to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.
By pleading guilty, 34-year-old Andrew Alvarado of Salinas admitted that he personally participated in six of these hunts between January 2017 and May 2017, according to the attorney’s office.
They say that Alvarado was the the shooter in three of those hunts, “resulting in the deaths of three victims and the wounding of a fourth. In one instance, the hunt began at a gathering to remember a co-conspirator’s family members who had been killed in a car accident, during which the gang members agreed to go hunting for rival gang members to kill.”
The attorney’s office says that Alvarado also admitted that he was in the security/spotter vehicle in three other hunts, resulting in the deaths of three victims, the wounding of four victims, and the near-miss of one victim.
They said that he admitted that each additional “body” increased Alvarado’s status and prestige within the gang.
Alvarado is in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, 2025, according to the attorney’s office.
They say that he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine for racketeering conspiracy with another 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Alvarado was indicted along with multiple co-defendants by a federal grand jury on Oct. 15, 2020.
They say that court documents outlined Alvarado and his fellow “Murder Squad” peers as going on “hunts” to shoot and kill rival gang members, or even those to be perceived rivals.
“The squad would often use military-style tactics, traveling in a convoy of vehicles with a designated shooter vehicle and a designated security/spotter vehicle, all of which were in constant communication via conference call,” wrote the attorney’s office on their website. “The security/spotter vehicles would patrol the streets, find a target, and transmit their location to the shooter vehicle [while] the shooters in the shooter vehicle would drive up, exit, fire at the victims until their magazines were empty, and speed away. The security/spotter vehicles would follow behind, ready to distract or intercept law enforcement and allow the shooter vehicle to escape.”
In May 2024, the attorney’s office says that five of Alvarado’s co-defendants pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering. The five co-defendants were sentenced in September 2024 to between 25 and 41 years in prison, according to the attorney’s office.
Five of the Salinas gang “Murder Squad” members sentenced; U.S. Attorney’s Office
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — The United States Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that five members from the Salinas-based “Murder Squad” were sentenced to a combined 161 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the “Murder Squad” was responsible for 11 murders with another 17 survivors who were shot at between 2015 and 2018.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that several “Murder Squad” murders began when the gang members gathered at a house to remember a recently deceased friend or loved one, then decided to go “hunting” as a way to commemorate the decedent’s memory or lift their spirits. According to the U.S. Attorney, each additional body count increased a defendant’s status and prestige within the “Murder Squad.”
“The ‘Murder Squad’ killed for sport, terrorizing the city of Salinas and forever altering the lives of so many innocent members of our community,” said U.S. Attorney Ramsey. “As described in the court filings, their conduct is reprehensible.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the “Murder Squad” conducted more than a dozen hunts, targeting people who were Hispanic, bald or wore blue. Then, a designated shooter would accompany a designated security/spotter vehicle to seek out victims, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Using “military-style tactics,” the security/spotter vehicle would patrol the streets searching for potential targets, transmit the information and location to the shooter, then follow behind the shooter after their magazine guns were emptied on the victim, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“This was an amazing investigation that made a tremendous impact on violence in Salinas. These guys were serial killers,” Acting Police Chief John Murray told KION. “It began when our detectives recognized some similarities and connections between murders back around 2017. It branched out and grew into a federal investigation titled Operation Red Rum.”
All five defendants pleaded guilty on May 7, 2024, to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to murder in aid of racketeering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Attorney’s Office also said that the members were identified as Siaki Tavale (“Shocky” or “Gunner”), 27, and sentenced to 41 years in prison; John Magat (“Romeo”), 37, and sentenced to 37 years in prison; Anthony Valdez (“Hitter” or “Tony Boronda”), 27, and sentenced to 31 years in prison; Anelu Tavale (“Angel”), 28, and sentenced to 27 years in prison; and Mark Anthony Garcia (“Tony from Santa Rita”), 33, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. All of the defendants were ordered to serve a five-year terms of supervised release after completion of each defendant’s prison term, according to the Attorney’s Office.
“The public has no idea how extensive [the search] was and how much impact it had,” said Murray. “This is another one of these great stories begging to be told. The number of murders has since grown.”
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