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LAS VEGAS — <\/span>A jury convicted three men who prosecutors say were members of the violent MS-13 gang in a federal racketeering case involving nine killings in Las Vegas and Los Angeles between 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n Jose Luis Reynaldo Reyes-Castillo, David Arturo Perez-Manchame and Joel Vargas-Escobar were found guilty of multiple charges, including murder and racketeering, after a 43-day jury trial, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of Nevada. They face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without parole. A fourth person, Alexander De Jesus Figueroa-Torres, had also been charged but agreed to a plea deal before the trial. <\/p>\n The jury did not return guilty verdicts on two other killings.<\/p>\n The verdict marks a major victory for the Trump administration and its efforts to crack down on a gang known for its brutal violence and extortion, though the massive case was years in the making, with the original 55-page indictment<\/a> coming in 2021 under former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n Last year an MS-13 leader was sentenced<\/a> to 68 years in prison in a case involving eight killings in Long Island, New York. In El Salvador, nearly 500 accused members of MS-13 face a collective trial<\/a>, despite concerns of due process.<\/p>\n FBI Director Kash Patel said in a Monday statement that the FBI has prioritized \u201cwiping out violent gangs\u201d in the U.S. <\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s conviction is just the latest example \u2014 with three MS-13 gang members convicted of nine murders, kidnappings, drug trafficking, and more in Las Vegas,” he said in the statement. “These gangs have terrorized our communities for far too long, and under this administration and law enforcement team, they are no longer allowed to operate with impunity in America. This FBI will continue working with our partners across the country to dismantle their presence coast to coast.\u201d<\/p>\n The attorneys for the three defendants did not immediately return requests for comment. <\/p>\n MS-13 was formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s by Salvadoran immigrants and their descendants and has since spread in the U.S. and Central America. <\/p>\n During the trial that included dozens of witnesses, prosecutors said the defendants were part of an MS-13 clique that operated in Las Vegas and were responsible for the brutal killings of 11 men in Nevada and California. They also took part in assault, kidnapping, robbery, narcotics trafficking and illegally possessing firearms, the prosecutors said. <\/p>\n Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanee Smith told jurors in her opening statement that the defendants committed the acts of violence to improve their ranking in the gang. The defendants believed the people they killed were members of the rival gang 18th Street, but it took very little to convince them that a victim was a rival gang member, such as a person wearing baggy clothes or having long hair, Smith said. <\/p>\n \u201cEleven people are dead; 51 gunshot wounds, 537 stab wounds, 24 choppings. Those are just some of the injuries you are going to hear about in this trial,” Smith told the jurors.<\/p>\n