US citizens indicted on RICO charges for role in MS-13 terror group 'Los Ghettos Criminales Salvatruchas'

Eight members and associates of an MS-13 terrorist group operating out of Maryland have been indicted by the Department of Justice on RICO conspiracy charges for their alleged roles in an intricate firearm and drug trafficking scheme. The defendants, both foreign nationals and US citizens, are involved in a violent MS-13 offshoot known as "Los Ghettos Criminales Salvatruchas." The El Salvadoran-based MS-13 gang is a US-designated terrorist organization.

The US Attorneys Office for the District of Maryland announced the superseding indictment on Thursday. The LGCS has been accused of trafficking firearms and illicit narcotics, as well as carrying out a series of violent armed robberies in Baltimore County.

German Lisandro Benites Moreno, 32, of El Salvador, has been identified as the group's ringleader. Prosecutors said he first ran the LGCS out of New Jersey until he was taken into custody in December 2024. Benites Moreno continued leading the LGCS while incarcerated in a New Jersey state prison. He allegedly facilitated the gang's firearm trafficking, drug distribution, money laundering, and violence, charging documents state.

Additionally, Benites Moreno would call into LGCS meetings that were being conducted in Baltimore County and "exerted control over the gang when committing assaults and robberies," according to the indictment. Benites Moreno uses that alias "19," "Viejo Raro," and "Raro."

Prosecutors said that Melanie Pina Verde, 22, a US citizen of Owings Mills, Maryland, allegedly acted as the intermediary between Benites Moreno and the non-incarcerated gang members. She reportedly allowed the LGCS terrorists to store firearms and narcotics at her apartment, as well as allowing them to conduct official business in her unit, according to the indictment.

From at least January 28, 2025, through October 16, 2025, defendants Alex Pena Martinez, 19, of Honduras, Luis Melendez Serrano, 19, of El Salvador, Kevin Melendez Serrano, 23, of El Salvador, and William Rivera Nolasco, 19, a US citizen of Owings Mills, Maryland, "conspired to knowingly traffic firearms to individuals who were ineligible to legally possess them," court documents state. During this same period, some of them also trafficked controlled substances, including illicit narcotics such as methamphetamine.

In September 2025, Joshua Palacios, 18, of El Salvador, and Nilson Montecinos, 21, of Honduras, and other LCGS members committed a series of robberies and assaults to be conducted into the clique. The LGCS members placed firearms up to the victims' heads during the robberies and demanded the victims apologize to LGCS leadership, including Benites Moreno.

According to the Department of Justice, this case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force's (HSTF) Operation Take Back America, a full-scale initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and repel the invasion of illegal immigration.