MS-13 Leader Carlos Valdez Admits to Conspiracy to Murder Rival Member

NEWARK, NJ—A Hudson County, N.J., man today admitted to trying to kill a rival gang member, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Carlos Valdez, a/k/a \”Catracho,\” 27, was indicted in July 2014 with numerous other top-ranking members of the international criminal street gang, Mara Salvatrucha (also known as \”MS\” or \”MS-13\”), for racketeering crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder. Valdez, who admitted to being the leader of an MS-13 set, or \”clique,\” operating in Hudson County, known as \”Hudson Locotes Salvatruchas,\” pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court to Count One of the indictment, engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, and Count Five, conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: