ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Salvadoran national and MS-13 gang member was sentenced Thursday to six life terms in prison for his role in a series of violent murders and conspiracies in Virginia and Massachusetts.
Elmer De Jesus Alas Candray, 27, was convicted of racketeering, murder, and firearms charges for crimes committed between 2018 and 2022 as part of the Uniones Locos Salvatrucha (ULS) clique of MS-13. Authorities said he and other gang members carried out executions, dismembered victims, and buried bodies to enforce the gang’s rules and eliminate perceived threats.
Among the murders was the August 2018 killing of an MS-13 associate in New Bedford, Massachusetts, whom the gang suspected of betrayal. Prosecutors said Alas Candray and his co-conspirators strangled and dismembered the victim before burying his remains. He was also involved in multiple murders in Fairfax County, Virginia, including the 2020 killing of a young woman lured to a secluded location and shot in the face.
Federal authorities said Alas Candray played a leadership role in MS-13’s operations, issuing orders and warning fellow gang members about law enforcement investigations. “His brutality and disregard for human life were staggering,” prosecutors said in court filings.
Alas Candray’s conviction and sentencing mark one of the most severe penalties handed down in recent years against MS-13 members operating in the United States.