CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two Charlotte-area MS-13 gang members were sentenced to life in federal prison Monday for murder, racketeering and other charges.
Miguel Zelaya, 22, of Charlotte, and Luis Ordonez-Vega, 37, of Concord, were both convicted in April and sentenced to life in prison Monday.
The charges come following a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI, along with North Carolina’s Alcohol Law Enforcement and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
A third MS-13 gang member, Jorge Garcia, 27, was also sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to RICO conspiracy and attempted murder in aid of racketeering charges.
According to court documents, from at least 2009 until May 2015, the three defendants, along with 34 others named in a federal indictment, were members of the MS-13 gang -- a criminal organization with more than 6,000 members in the United States and 30,000 members internationally.
Twenty-nine additional MS-13 gang members have previously been sentenced in connection with this case.
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