A high-ranking member of the MS-13 gang was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 16-year-old fellow gang member.
Melvi Amador-Rios, 32, received the harsh sentence in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn for the killing of Julio Vasquez, as well as a shooting that left another teenager paralyzed and other senseless gang violence, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In addition to the life sentence, Amador-Rios was sentenced to 80 years in prison for four robberies, 40 years in prison for ordering a nonfatal shooting, and 38 years in prison for firearms charges, all of which will run consecutively.
Vasquez's mother, Bertha Palaguachi, expressed her grief in a statement to the New York Daily News. "They didn't kill an animal," she said. "They killed my son, and I want justice. I hope they stay and rot in jail."
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace stated that Amador-Rios deservedly received a life sentence. "Today's sentence reflects justice for the heinous and senseless nature of the defendant's crimes and the terror he inflicted on his victims, their families, and the community," he said.
Amador-Rios killed Vasquez, a low-level MS-13 member, in 2017 because he was associating with members of the rival 18th Street gang, a violation of gang rules. Vasquez was killed when he failed to kill another gang member who had also broken gang rules, prosecutors said.
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