Acting AG Todd Blanche gives go-ahead to pursue death penalty in MS-13 murder case

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the top federal prosecutor in California to seek the death penalty for three alleged MS-13 members charged with killing a victim who was cooperating with authorities, according to a memo dated April 8 and obtained by CBS News.

In one of his first acts as acting attorney general, Blanche directed First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bilal Essayli to pursue the death penalty for Roberto Carlos Aguilar, Dennis Anaya Urias and Grevil Zelaya Santiago.

The three alleged members of the MS-13 transnational criminal organization are charged in federal complaints with murder in aid of racketeering for the killing of a victim who was cooperating with federal authorities.

According to prosecutors, the victim had been marked for death by the gang, and Urias and Santiago allegedly carried out the shooting at a grocery store in South Los Angeles on February 18, 2025. The Justice Department said in a news release that the gang knew of the victim’s cooperation with the government, which made him “subject to a ‘green light’ order that made him a target for murder by MS-13 members.”

About an hour before his death, the victim apparently had a chance encounter with Aguilar inside the store, the Justice Department said. That evening, the victim called authorities twice and told them MS-13 gang members had just tried to shoot him, but the gun failed to fire. “Then, during the second telephone call, several gunshots were heard,” the department’s release states.

The charges carry a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison and make the defendants eligible for the death penalty if convicted.