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A Salvadoran national and MS-13 member was sentenced Feb. 13, 2025, to 50 years in federal prison for a racketeering conspiracy involving three murders, drug distribution and financial support for the gang’s criminal operations.

Henry Leonel Barrera Ayala participated in killings in Reston and Massachusetts as a member of MS-13’s Uniones Locos Salvatrucha clique, according to court records.

In June 2019, Barrera Ayala, Elmer De Jesus Alas Candray and other clique members plotted to kill people who regularly gathered to drink in woods the gang considered its territory.

On June 23, the group carried two firearms—a 9mm and a .45 caliber—and two machetes to the Hunters Woods area of Reston. There, they killed a person identified as J.L.G.M. by shooting and attacking him with a machete.

Barrera Ayala took part in another Reston murder on Sept. 17, 2020. Gang members targeted a young woman identified as I.J.P.G. because they believed she had ties to a rival gang and had insulted MS-13 on social media.

Using Snapchat, Barrera Ayala posed as a member of the rival gang and exchanged messages with her. He and another conspirator then picked her up from her home and drove her to Colts Neck Road, where Alas Candray and another MS-13 member were waiting. The four assailants took turns shooting her, primarily in the face.

Barrera Ayala also participated in the Aug. 25, 2018, murder of an MS-13 associate in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Barrera Ayala—also known as Cusuco, Centinela and Lil Player—Alas Candray and other ULS members met there to kill a person identified in court records as K.A.C., who was associated with MS-13’s Directos Locos Salvatrucha clique.

After eating dinner together, Barrera Ayala and several accomplices beat and strangled K.A.C. They dismembered the body, put the remains in trash bags and buried them in woods near New Bedford.

Beyond the killings, Barrera Ayala conspired with other MS-13 members to distribute marijuana and cocaine. On several occasions, he used money-transfer services to send drug proceeds to people in other states and Central American countries for the benefit of the gang.

Barrera Ayala pleaded guilty Sept. 18, 2024, to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

A federal jury convicted Alas Candray on Oct. 21, 2024, of charges connected to the gang’s criminal operations, including six murders and additional murder conspiracies. He received six concurrent life sentences on Jan. 30, 2025.

U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff imposed Barrera Ayala’s 50-year sentence.