Gang members known as “murder squads” killed innocent bystanders “for sport” while on “hunts” for competitors
This week, five members of a Salinas, California, “Murder Squad” who used guns to hunt down and murder members of rival gangs for fun were given a total sentence of 161 years in prison.
The group, according to the prosecution, traveled in a convoy with spotter cars and a designated shooter, and they were looking for Hispanic men, persons with shaved heads, and anyone wearing blue—the opposing color.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated in a news release that the security and spotter vehicles would drive around the streets looking for possible targets. Once they were located, they would call in the shooters in the shooter vehicle, who would then pull up and start shooting at the victims until their magazines ran empty before quickly driving off.
Prosecutors alleged that the security/spotter car would trail behind, prepared to divert or elude law police and permit the gunmen to flee. Prosecutors claimed that the group killed eleven persons between 2015 and 2018. Seventeen more persons were shot at but managed to live.
The majority of the victims were caught in the crossfire and weren’t even the original target or members of a rival gang.
Prosecutors said that a number of the killings were committed to “lift their spirits” or honor a fallen gang member. According to the authorities, a defendant’s standing within the gang increased with each increase in the number of bodies.
The gang belongs to the group of street gangs in Northern California, also called “Norteños.” They went to rival “Sureños” (street gang members in Southern California or those they believed to be associated with them) in Salinas, a 163,542-person city located more than 100 miles south of San Francisco.
Siaki Tavale, 27, known as “Shocky” or “Gunner,” was sentenced to 41 years in jail; John Magat, 37, received 37 years; Anthony “Hitter” Valdez, 27, received 31 years; Anelu Tavale, 28, was given 27 years; and Mark Anthony Garcia, 33, known as “Tony from Santa Rita,” was forced to serve 25 years. According to the prosecution, they entered a guilty plea to the murder and racketeering conspiracy in May.
U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey stated, “The ‘Murder Squad’ killed for sport, terrorizing the city of Salinas and forever altering the lives of so many innocent members of our community.” “As stated in the court documents, their behavior is abhorrent. These individuals will, very rightly, spend the next few decades of their lives behind bars because of the long-standing solid cooperation between federal and state law enforcement.
