Over the course of greater than a dozen “hunts,” the squad has targeted Salinas residents they believed to be members of rival gangs, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. In some cases, the victims were chosen just because they were Latino, bald or wore blue clothing.
The unit used military tactics and traveled in a convoy of special reconnaissance and gunnery vehicles, authorities said. The occupants of the primary vehicle identified a goal and the occupants of the second vehicle opened fire on the goal.
Authorities said that 11 people were killed in these hunts between 2015 and 2018. Another 17 people were shot at but survived. Most of the victims weren’t members of rival gangs and a few weren’t targeted in any respect but hit by ricochets.
The killings began, authorities said, as a technique to commemorate a recently deceased friend or loved one. Each murder also served to extend a member's status and prestige inside the gang.
“The Murder Squad killed for sport, terrorized the city of Salinas and forever changed the lives of so many innocent members of our community,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey.
“Thanks to the longstanding and close cooperation between federal and state law enforcement agencies, these men will rightly spend the next decades of their lives in prison,” he said.
On May 7, the members pleaded guilty to 1 count of conspiracy to commit organized crime and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of organized crime.
Siaki Tavale, 27, was sentenced to 41 years; John Magat, 37, was sentenced to 37 years; Anthony Valdez, 27, was sentenced to 31 years; Anelu Tavale, 28, was sentenced to 27 years; and Mark Anthony Garcia, 33, was sentenced to 25 years.
They were also ordered to serve five years' probation after serving their prison sentences.
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