AG Pam Bondi Issues 'A Warning To All Criminals' After Sweeping Arrests Of Alleged MS-13 Members

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At a press briefing in Broward County, Florida, AG Pam Bondi issued a warning to criminals.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Sheriff. I feel like I'm back home being here in Broward.

00:05To our victims' families first, we met with them earlier.

00:09Thank you for being here, and we're so sorry.

00:13And as Sheriff Tony said, your victim was not just sitting there in a box of papers.

00:20They are a victim, and that's why they have spent a decade

00:24finding some of these people who have killed your loved ones.

00:29We're very sorry for your loss, and I know you have to relive this.

00:33Thank you for being here today. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

00:37Sheriff Tony, thank you for your relentless pursuit of justice in these cold cases.

00:43These cases are never cold when it comes to law enforcement.

00:48I want to also thank Hayden O'Byrne. Where's Hayden?

00:51Our acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.

00:54To Brett Skiles, our SAC, for the special agent in charge for the FBI.

00:59And to all the great men and women of the Broward County Sheriff's Office,

01:03for our Border Patrol agents, all of our agents who are here,

01:09who have done so much to help.

01:11Thank you all to the men and women, especially in Broward,

01:14and our victims' advocates, our interpreters who have helped with this case.

01:20It takes a lot of people to make these cases,

01:22and they're so very, very important.

01:24And today we're here to announce the arrest of three more MS-13 gang members

01:31who were in this country illegally, and they were in Florida.

01:36And we will be reviewing them.

01:38They've all been arrested for first-degree murder.

01:40We will be reviewing them to see if we will seek the death penalty.

01:44This has been a long-running investigation that started in 2015.

01:50The victim in this case was brutally, brutally murdered,

01:56stabbed approximately 100 times by multiple gang members

02:02before he was shot in the head.

02:05He suffered tremendously.

02:08And these indictments are a warning to all criminals.

02:11We don't care how long ago you committed the crime.

02:15We don't care where you go.

02:17We will find you, we will arrest you,

02:20and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

02:26Gamez Maravilla was located in Lake County, Florida.

02:31Get ready for this.

02:32He was hanging drywall at the Villages when he was arrested.

02:37Barmudez Martinez was apprehended in Minnesota.

02:42Great police work by all of our federal, state,

02:45and local law enforcement agencies working together

02:48found this guy in Minnesota.

02:51He thought he got away with this crime, and he did not.

02:55Navarro Martinez arrested right here in North Lauderdale.

02:59They are charged with brutal, brutal, a brutal murder of a young man.

03:06One of these defendants sought him out,

03:09convinced him to come with him in his car,

03:13took him to a crime scene where they are all charged

03:17with violently stabbing him, almost like a game,

03:23to get a higher level in their gang initiation.

03:26They were all part of an MS-13.

03:28It's called CLIC, a CLIC that was living right here in Florida.

03:35They're not just a street gang.

03:37They are a highly organized terrorist organization.

03:43Last week in Virginia, you all saw,

03:46we arrested one of the worst MS-13 gang members.

03:51He was one of the top three leaders of MS-13 in our entire country.

03:55He was living right in Virginia, half an hour away from D.C.,

03:59in a nice apartment complex with normal neighbors, bicycles in yards.

04:05They are living among us because they think they can get away with this,

04:09and they cannot.

04:11They're bringing drugs, they're bringing guns,

04:14and especially violence to our country.

04:17And under Donald Trump's presidency, that has stopped.

04:25Every seven minutes, an American dies of a drug overdose.

04:36Over 75,000 people die a year of fentanyl overdoses.

04:45More than two homicides an hour happen in America.

04:51We know there is so much more work to be done,

04:54and that's why we are all here fighting for victims of crime.

05:00These gangs are organized, they are terrorists,

05:04and look at these three guys.

05:05They thought they got away with it for almost a decade, but they did not.

05:10Thanks to the great men and women of law enforcement,

05:13they were found, they were arrested,

05:16and if convicted, they will never see the light of day again.

05:22More arrests are coming.

05:24If you are a gang member living in this country,

05:27I'd self-deport right now because we're coming after you.

05:33It's my honor today to introduce U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne

05:39with the Southern District of Florida.

05:41Hayden, thank you and your team for your tireless work

05:44on everything that you've done to keep Florida safe,

05:47but also to keep our country safe by taking these terrorists off our streets.

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