Honduran Gang Informant Convicted

A Honduran man who prosecutors hoped would be a star witness in an MS-13 gang trial has been convicted in federal court in San Francisco of lying about having taken part in eight murders in his native country. Former MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, gang member Roberto Acosta was convicted by a jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Tuesday of making a false statement to federal authorities.

He will be sentenced by Breyer on Oct. 5 and faces up to five years in prison. Acosta, whose gang nicknames were “Zoro” and “Little Bad Boy,” became an informant and infiltrated a San Francisco branch of the gang in 2005 and 2006 and again in 2008, when he returned illegally to the United States after having been deported. Federal prosecutors had expected him to give key testimony at the current racketeering and murder conspiracy trial in San Francisco of seven members of MS-13′s 20th Street Clique, which was based at the 20th and Mission streets in the city.

That trial began in April in the court of U.S. District Judge William Alsup and is expected to continue into August. But in February, Acosta told a federal prosecutor and immigration agents for the first time that he had taken part in eight gang-related murders in Honduras in 2003 and 2004, participating directly in five and arranging for three others. Acosta had not previously disclosed those murders to his handlers, despite repeatedly having been asked to reveal previous acts of violence, according to a trial brief filed by prosecutors. Prosecutors then cancelled plans to use Acosta as a witness.

On March 29, a week before the gang trial began, they obtained a grand jury indictment accusing him of lying…continue news article here.


You must be logged in to post a comment Login