Federal agents say they have taken a major bite out of the Trinitarios street gang in Massachusetts, charging 26 alleged members, leaders and associates with racketeering conspiracy in a broad new sweep. According to investigators, the case is tied to a pattern of violence that includes five homicides and 19 attempted murders, the latest turn in a years-long push to dismantle the group’s local footprint.
As reported by NBC 10, the FBI described the defendants as leaders, rank-and-file members and close associates, and said the arrests sweep in people accused in those five killings and 19 attempted killings.
Federal prosecutors previously unsealed a sweeping racketeering indictment in February 2025 that charged nearly two dozen Trinitarios leaders, members and associates and alleged the gang was responsible for multiple homicides, shootings and kidnappings across Essex County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Multi-agency Probe Built Over Years
Officials say the latest charges grow out of a string of killings and attempted killings in Lynn and Lawrence and are the product of a task-force model that pulled in federal, state and local police over several years. The FBI lists a steady run of Trinitarios-related prosecutions and guilty pleas that authorities say led up to this round of arrests.
What the Charges Mean
A racketeering-conspiracy (RICO) count is not a slap-on-the-wrist type of charge. The statute allows for long prison terms, including life if the underlying acts themselves carry life sentences, along with forfeiture and significant fines. Related Hobbs Act conspiracy charges that often appear in organized-crime cases can carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years. The penalty language is laid out in the U.S. Code and in the Hobbs Act at 18 U.S.C. § 1951.
Prosecutors say several defendants in the broader Trinitarios case have already pleaded guilty in recent months and that the U.S. Attorney’s Organized Crime & Gang Unit will steer the federal prosecutions. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts has previously highlighted the unsealing of earlier indictments and recent plea activity in the investigation, and has identified its trial team in a public statement. U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts
