The leader of a New York City drug trafficking organization who participated in the murders of two teenagers a decade ago was convicted by a federal jury of racketeering conspiracy, murder, and firearms-related charges.
Carlos Ramirez, a.k.a. Guerra, leader of the Sunset Trinitarios, a violent street gang and drug trafficking organization founded in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, was convicted Friday of conspiracy to commit racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and the use of a firearm to commit murder following a two-week trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced Monday.
“For more than a decade, the family members of Michael Beltre and Jordanny Correa have waited for justice. Their wait is now over. With its verdict, the jury has now held Carlos Ramirez, a.k.a. ‘Guerra,’ a leader of the Sunset Trinitarios, responsible for nearly a decade of drug trafficking, robberies, and violence, including the murder of these two young men, both teenagers at the time that they were shot to death,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
“It does not matter how long ago their lives were lost to the scourge of gang violence in this city. I promise you that the career prosecutors of this office and our law enforcement partners will never stop investigating and prosecuting these righteous cases,” Williams said.
From 2010 to 2024, members of the Sunset Trinitarios committed numerous violent crimes, including armed robberies across the city, multiple murders and attempted murders.
Ramirez, 29, rose to “multiple positions of leadership” during that period, both out on the street and while inside state and federal detention facilities in New York City.
On Oct. 23, 2013, Ramirez participated in 17-year-old Beltre’s murder, striking him and holding him down while another gang member fatally shot him. On Nov. 2, 2014, Ramirez fatally shot 19-year-old Correa inside a Bronx apartment.
As a so-called “devil soldier messenger” of the Sunset Trinitarios, Ramirez got two identical tattoos commemorating the murders. The moniker stems from the gang celebrating killing their victims and delivering them to the devil.
In Feb. 28, 2023, Ramirez attempted to murder a former Sunset Trinitarios leader inside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn because he believed the former leader had given information to law enforcement.. Ramirez carried out the attack with the help of others, slashing and stabbing the victim with a knife, causing severe injuries.
Ten co-conspirators and fellow members of Sunset Trinitarios have previously pleaded guilty, prosecutors said. Some are awaiting sentencing, while others have received sentences from multiple years to life in prison.
Ramirez is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan 9, 2025. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for the charge of murder in aid of racketeering, and up to life in prison for each of the other two charges.
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