Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has authorized federal prosecutors in Los Angeles to seek the death penalty against three MS-13 gang members charged with gunning down an FBI informant at a south Los Angeles grocery store, a case now folded into the administration's broader crackdown on transnational criminal organizations, the New York Post reported.

Dennis Anaya Urias, 27, Grevil Zelaya Santiago, 25, and Roberto Carlos Aguilar, 30, each face one count of murder in aid of racketeering and two counts of conspiracy to retaliate against a witness. All three have been in federal custody since their arrest in May 2025 as part of a racketeering and methamphetamine trafficking case. Their trial in the Central District of California is set for July 21.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Thursday that his office would pursue capital punishment after receiving an April 8 letter from Blanche. Essayli did not mince words about who the defendants are or what the administration intends to do about it.

"The death penalty is reserved for some of the most heinous crimes. The defendants in this case have met that criteria."

Two of the three defendants are illegal immigrants. Essayli told the Post that Urias and Aguilar are Salvadoran nationals, Urias holds a green card, while Aguilar is in the country illegally. Santiago is an illegal immigrant from Honduras.

A targeted killing at a grocery store

The victim, identified in court documents only as "H.B.," was a cooperating witness for the FBI. Prosecutors allege MS-13 members knew about his status, and that a leader of the gang's "Bagos" clique gave the order to target him.

The killing unfolded on February 18 of last year at a Superior Grocers at Figueroa Avenue and 92nd Street in south Los Angeles. Court filings lay out a sequence that began roughly an hour before the fatal shots, when H.B. encountered Aguilar inside the store. An FBI special agent later identified Aguilar as a Latino man with long hair, wearing a black top and blue jeans.

That encounter set off what Essayli described as "a series of events that led to Urias and Santiago shooting and killing the victim."

After the initial confrontation, a man described in court filings as "dressed in all black, with a handkerchief covering his face" attempted to shoot H.B. The gun did not fire. H.B. called 911 and retreated back inside the grocery store. Within minutes, two other men climbed out of a Honda CR-V parked outside.

Security camera footage showed two men, alleged to be Urias and Santiago, chasing H.B. into the store. At some point during the pursuit, H.B. managed to place a call to his FBI handler. An affidavit filed by an FBI special agent states that the handler "heard through the telephone several gunshots and H.B. stopped responding."

He was dead.

The phone call that tied it together

Three days after the murder, the FBI was listening. An agent monitored a phone call between another cooperating witness and the man identified in the affidavit as A.R., the Bagos clique's "shotcaller." The language A.R. used left little room for ambiguity.

"Had to clean out my garbage, you understand, and well that work you cannot say no to."

That intercepted call, combined with the security footage and the FBI's identification of Aguilar, forms the backbone of the prosecution's case. Prosecutors noted in the criminal complaint that MS-13 members have routinely "promoted a climate of fear in the community through threats of harm and violence" to "enhance" their status within the gang.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, the administration's initiative targeting drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Since Todd Blanche took over as acting Attorney General, the Justice Department has signaled a harder line on violent gang crime, and this case represents one of the sharpest edges of that posture.

Who these defendants are, and what that tells us

Essayli was blunt about the immigration status of the accused. Two illegal immigrants and one green-card holder, all members of a foreign-born criminal gang, allegedly conspired to murder a man who was cooperating with federal law enforcement. The victim was trying to help the government dismantle the very organization that killed him.

That fact alone should give pause to anyone who treats MS-13 as a political talking point rather than a lethal reality. This was not a random act of street violence. Court filings describe a coordinated retaliation, a gang leadership decision, a "green light," a failed first attempt, and then a successful second one carried out by different shooters within the same hour.

The broader shakeup at the Department of Justice has drawn intense scrutiny in recent months. The reset at DOJ following personnel changes has raised questions about priorities and direction. This case answers at least one of those questions clearly: the department under Blanche is willing to pursue the ultimate penalty against gang members who target federal witnesses.

Essayli framed the decision in terms the administration has used repeatedly when discussing transnational gang violence. His warning was direct and unambiguous.

"Thugs and terrorists will find no shelter under this administration. If you take someone's life, then you will forfeit your own."

What comes next

The July 21 trial date puts this case on a fast track by federal standards. All three defendants remain in custody. The charges, murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, already carried severe penalties. The death penalty authorization raises the stakes to their highest possible level.

Several questions remain unanswered. The full identities of the victim and the Bagos clique leader remain shielded behind initials in court filings. It is unclear whether additional defendants may face charges in connection with the conspiracy. And the precise contents of Blanche's April 8 letter have not been made public.

What is clear is the nature of the crime. A man who risked his life to cooperate with federal investigators was hunted down in broad daylight at a neighborhood grocery store. When the first gun jammed, the gang sent reinforcements. The victim called 911. He called his FBI handler. Neither call saved him.

The Department of Justice has been consumed by high-profile investigations and internal upheaval for years. But cases like this one remind the public what the department exists to do in its most basic function: prosecute violent criminals who threaten the safety of American communities and the integrity of the justice system itself.

The criminal complaint's description of MS-13's methods, promoting "a climate of fear in the community through threats of harm and violence", is not abstract language. It describes what happened to H.B. on a February afternoon at a grocery store on Figueroa Avenue. A cooperating witness was executed for cooperating.

Meanwhile, the political landscape around immigration enforcement and DOJ accountability continues to shift. Critics of aggressive enforcement rarely grapple with cases like this one, cases where illegal immigrants allegedly carried out a premeditated gang hit on American soil against a person helping federal law enforcement.

If the death penalty means anything, it means something in a case where a gang ordered the murder of a federal informant, sent multiple armed men to finish the job, and then bragged about taking out the "garbage" three days later. The jury will decide. But the DOJ, at least, has made its position plain.