CHARLOTTE -- Alejandro Umana, an MS-13 gang member, was sentenced to death Tuesday for the December 2007 murders of two brothers.
Umana, 25, had been found guilty in April by a federal jury of killing the brothers in a restaurant in Greensboro. He also had been found guilty of conspiring to extort money from Charlotte drug dealers and of intimidating witnesses to prevent them from cooperating with authorities investigating the murders.
Prosecutors said Umana killed the two men to maintain MS-13's reputation and to advance his position in the gang's criminal enterprise.
As Umana entered the courtroom, his legs shackled and hands cuffed, he smiled. Then, turning to the audience, he said, " Hola!"
Umana was among 26 suspected MS-13 members indicted in Charlotte in 2008 after a federal sweep. Authorities said the gang was part of an international organization that committed crimes across Charlotte, including robbery, racketeering, extortion and murder.
Eighteen of them pleaded guilty. Six more members were convicted in Charlotte in January on federal charges involving violence and conspiracy. One of them was convicted of murder in connection with the April 2008 killing in Charlotte of Ulisses Alejandro Mayo, who was shot to death while sitting in a car after a children's birthday party.
The remaining defendant is imprisoned in El Salvador and can't be extradited.
MS-13, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, is an abbreviation derived from the Spanish word mara, which means "gang." Salvatrucha combines Salva (for Salvadoran) and trucha ("fear us").
MS-13 gang members have been arrested in cities across the state in recent years, including Raleigh, Durham and Winston-Salem.
