ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WLNE) — A Salvadoran national and member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang was convicted Monday on multiple charges including six murders and other murder conspiracies, according to the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Virginia. On August 18, 2018, Elmer De Jesus Alas Candray, 27, met with other MS-13 members in New Bedford with the intent to murder an associate of MS-13’s Directos Locos Slavatucha clique identified as K.A.C. MS-13 leadership in El Salvador approved the murder believing that K.A.C. had betrayed the organization. The group ate dinner together, and K.A.C. was beaten and strangled to death and his body was dismembered and placed in trash bags and buried in a nearby wooded area. Alas Candray and fellow conspirators were promoted in the gang for this action. “Alas Candray committed half a dozen gruesome murders to rise in rank in MS-13, demonstrating a vile disregard for his victims’ lives,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Geist. “His conviction is the result of a multiyear investigation worked by the FBI, Fairfax County Police Department, and our federal and local partners.” Alas Candray also participated in five other murders in the Reston, Virginia area between 2019 and 2022. He was convicted of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, five counts of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, five counts of murder in aid of racketeering and three counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death. He will be sentenced on January 30, 2025. Categories: Massachusetts, New Bedford, News