Inside the crackdown on MS-13 violence in Baltimore, gang accused of 4 killings, including teen

Maryland federal prosecutors have indicted six MS-13 members in recent months, including the alleged leader of the Centrales Locos Salvatrucha (CLS) clique of the gang in the Baltimore area.

The crimes include murder and extortion, and conspiracy. 

The addition to the original July 2025 indictment includes two more alleged gang members and other violent crimes, including murder and attempted murder. 

Prosecutors said locally the gang operates inside Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel County.

The victims 

The indictment lists initials and dates, allowing WJZ Investigates to piece together the gang's violence across the city. 

Michael Ariel Chacon Nataren, 19, died after being shot across from Patterson Park in March 2024, with Crime Stoppers offering an $8,000 reward. 

A federal indictment said he was one of four people killed in Baltimore City by a clique of the MS-13 gang since 2023.

"It was pretty shocking that it happened, but honestly, most of my memories were how much the people in our neighborhood kind of came together," neighbor Rachel Okun said.

Okun's neighbor, a firefighter, rushed to help the victim, who was initially shot in the 200 S. Linwood Avenue, and then drove his vehicle the wrong way down East Pratt Street, where it crashed into another car. 

"It's really sad to me that those things are happening, and it makes me think how important it is to take care of our neighbors and to know each other," Okun said. 

Federal authorities also accused gang members of killing 17-year-old Patterson High School Senior Carlos Ivan Osegura Funez in December 2023, using his initials in court records. The indictment said gang members lured the victim by pretending to be a female on an Instagram account. 

Authorities said gang members ambushed the victim in the 4900 block of Goodnow Road in Northeast Baltimore, then shot him in a wooded area off Crenshaw Avenue nearby because they believed he had ties to a rival gang. They did not provide information on why gang members believed he was a rival. 

An article in the Patterson High School paper paid tribute. 

"People were devastated. His family prayed that their son would be found alive," according to the school paper. "His death made a lot of people and students tear up. Several people broke down in school, crying."

Loved ones wrote in an online fundraiser on the GoFundMe platform, "He will absolutely be missed. The world was a better place with Carlos Ivan in it."

In another Southeast Baltimore killing, prosecutors said gang members "took turns shooting [the victim] until he died."

The victim, killed on September 4, 2023, was targeted in connection with a dispute over drug sales, according to federal authorities. 

Federal prosecutors said he was in front of a library before being taken to a wooded area.

The gang is also tied to two attempted murders, including one in October 2023, where authorities said the victim was targeted because he was preparing to testify against a gang member in a pending criminal case in Baltimore City Circuit Court. 

Federal prosecutors said gang members took turns shooting at the victim after finding him behind his house.

Building their case

In recorded jailhouse calls, gang members spoke in coded language about the killings, according to court documents.

They also used surveillance video and witness accounts to bring the indictments.

Prosecutors said the gang extorted money from victims "by threatening and using force, violence and fear."

Prosecutors said Manuel Alexander "Snappy" "23" Lara Morales, 25, of El Salvador, has been the leader of MS-13 in Baltimore since 2023.

Eliseo Alexander "10" "Zorro" "Terrible" Lopez Alvarez, 23, of El Salvador, was second in command, according to prosecutors. 

Baltimore's MS-13 case is part of the Trump Administration's Operation Take Back America.