A local member of the transnational gang MS-13 has received a 35-year prison sentence for his part in a racketeering conspiracy that included multiple murders.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office with the Southern District of Ohio says 34-year-old Cruz Alberto-Arbarngas of Columbus's Northeast Side was linked to multiple murders, drug trafficking, firearms offenses, and extortion.
This is the twenty-second defendant convicted and eighth murder law enforcement has solved as part of an effort to break up the Columbus clique of MS-13. He is the tenth defendant to be sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for murder on behalf of MS-13.
Alberto-Arbangas was connected to four killings, each of which occurred in Columbus. He participated in the murder of 17-year old high school student Wilson Villeda and was linked to the murders of Ramon Ramos, Jose Ovillio Ayala-Alas and Salvador Martinez-Diaz.
Alberto-Arbangas was also part of an effort to extort three people. The victims were forced to pay hundreds of dollars every month or they and their families would be harmed.
In May, Alberto-Arbangas pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Columbus to a felony count of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
