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Lea este artículo en Español aquí/Read this article in Spanish here.
On March 8, 2017, the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, was the scene of a brutal crime.
Jaime Espinal, an 18-year-old man who, according to his loved ones, had a promising future in basketball, was found fatally shot at the intersection of Forest and Crescent streets.
Espinal was declared dead at the scene, leaving behind a legacy of broken dreams and a circle of friends and family who remembered him as loyal and with aspirations of escaping the cycle of violence that has plagued Lawrence.
Seven years later, in October 2024, authorities made significant progress in the case. Robert Severino, also known as “Petete,” was arrested and charged with Espinal’s killing. Severino, who was just 17 years old at the time of the shooting, pleaded not guilty in the Lawrence District Court and a judge ordered his detention without bail.
Severino was identified by authorities as a member of the Lawrence chapter of the Trinitarios, which authorities have described as one of the most violent and dangerous gangs in New England, operating throughout Massachusetts, including the cities of Lawrence, Lynn, Worcester, Boston and Haverhill, as well as in New Hampshire, Maine and several correctional institutions.
Severino’s name resurfaced in Wednesday in the announcement of charges against two dozen alleged leaders, members and associates of the Trinitarios gang, with federal prosecutors alleging the gang was behind 10 killings in Massachusetts’ Essex County in the last decade and recruits at local high schools.
“Today, the Trinitarios’ reign of terror in Massachusetts has come to an end,” U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said Wednesday.
Images of suspected Trinitarios gang members, along with other evidence, at a news conference on a federal bust f the gang in Massachusetts.
The racketeering conspiracy charges announced against more than 20 alleged Trinitarios gang members raised many questions, including who they are, why they’re said to be violent and where they came from.
Origins of the Dominican gang Trinitiarios
The Trinitarios gang is considered one of the most brutal, dangerous and feared in the country.
Authorities often trace its origin to 1993 at Rikers Island, the New York City prison. However, NYPD Det. Luis Salvador revealed in a 2018 interview with Telemundo that few know the Trinitarios actually began in the 1970s.
“It was when a group of Dominican and Latin American prisoners came together to protect themselves from other gangs,” he said.
Over time, this practice extended beyond the prison walls and made its way to the streets, establishing a well-structured system, according to Salvador.
The gang operates with a strict hierarchical organization, consisting of a president, vice president, councilors, warriors and soldiers, according to Salvador. Being part of the Trinitarios gang is like entering a family united by a common purpose.
Their name honors the founding fathers and key revolutionaries of the Dominican Republic’s War of Independence. Their motto, “God, Homeland, and Freedom,” aligns with the national emblem of the country.
The Trinitarios’ representative colors are lime green, red, blue and white — the latter three match the colors of the Dominican flag, as mentioned in the charges issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as they unsealed the new charges on Wednesday. The machete is said to be the preferred weapon of the gang’s members.
While the traditional power center of the Trinitarios was in New York, federal authorities report that the highest levels of the gang’s leadership were primarily based in the Dominican Republic.
The Trinitarios’ structure and their ‘Magna Carta‘
Following the announcement that 22 alleged gang members had been charged with conspiracy to commit organized crime, federal authorities provided a detailed description of the organizational structure of the Trinitarios gang.
They said that each state has a leader responsible for organizing the members there. In Massachusetts, there’s been a supreme, the leader of all the Trinitarios within the state, responsible for coordinating with other state leaders and the general leadership in the Dominican Republic.
According to the indictment documents revealed on Wednesday, Enmanuel Paula-Cabral, also known as “Nelfew,” “Gordo,” or “Manny,” serves as the supreme of the Trinitarios in Massachusetts. It wasn’t immediately clear if he or the other alleged Trinitarios had attorneys who could speak to the charges filed against them.
Within each state, and specifically in Massachusetts, the gang is organized into smaller groups known as chapters, investigators said. In Massachusetts, there were several chapters, typically named after the city or town they operate in, such as the Lawrence Chapter or the Lynn Chapter. Similarly, according to authorities, groups in prison are organized into chapters based on where they are incarcerated.
Paula-Cabral is also allegedly responsible for the chapter operating in Manchester, New Hampshire, as well as the Trinitarios in Maine, where, prosecutors said, the gang runs a lucrative drug trade.
“Paula-Cabral once bragged that he was trying to build an empire, an empire built by gang members, funded by drug trafficking and theft, protected by violence,” Foley said.
Each chapter in Massachusetts has leadership positions such as first, second, third and secretary, roles that make up the chapter’s cabinet, responsible for managing and overseeing operations, prosecutors said. They are tasked with recruiting new members, disciplining those who violate directives and collecting money for a fund that supports illegal operations and provides financial aid to incarcerated members and their families.
That money is generated through the sale of narcotics, illegal firearms, theft and other organized crime activities, federal agents said.
That structure, according to the indictment documents, is outlined in a Magna Carta, which also includes the gang’s slogans, symbols, colors and practices.
Also among the names of those arrested on Wednesday were Abel Severino Reyes, 21, Justin Alba, 25, Darwin Batista, 21, and two minors, one 15 and one 16 — all allegedly from the Lynn Chapter, and indicted last December in connection with a shooting in Lynn in September 2023. That shooting occurred at a farewell party, killing two young men, including one who was about to head off to college. Five others at the party were also shot.
Another Lynn shooting allegedly connected to the Trinitarios left two people dead, one a 16-year-old boy, and another hurt just two days after Christmas.
Recruitment and initiation
The reach of the Trinitarios has expanded rapidly, and its success could lie in the highly organized nature of its structure, investigators say.
According to authorities’ documents, the Trinitarios in Massachusetts reportedly recruit new members from both legal and illegal immigrant communities from the Dominican Republic, specifically targeting young people in local high schools in Lawrence and Lynn — Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra and NBC10 Boston have reached out to the school districts for comment. To win over new recruits, gang members allegedly appeal to their shared language and culture, Dominican patriotism and use the appearance of prosperity and brotherhood.
“My children are from Santo Domingo, and I’m going to move out of here because I don’t want them growing up here, in the environment that exists here in Lawrence,” said José González to Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra after authorities announced a new crackdown on the gang in 2019.
Indeed, with many arrests, it is evident that minors are often involved as part of the gang. In the indictments on Wednesday, authorities identified a 15-year-old, nicknamed “Pinina,” and another 16-year-old, nicknamed “Kreepy.”
It is alleged that members are initiated into the gang after completing a “mission,” usually a violent act such as a shooting, beating or fistfight with rival gang members of similar age or stature. According to court documents, after joining, new members are formally “blessed” into the organization at a ceremony where they take oaths from the state’s supreme and receive ceremonial necklaces. Younger members are allegedly assigned minor roles during many violent “missions,” such as standing guard during a shooting, holding or concealing weapons for full members and transporting firearms after they have been used in shootings.
According to the indictment documents, the Trinitarios make efforts to project power through the internet and social media, another way to attract younger members. They allegedly produce music and music videos showcasing members wearing the Trinitarios colors and clothing, holding weapons, cash and other items, along with lyrics boasting about violence, drugs and other criminal activities, which serve as warnings and threats to rival gangs.
With the arrests announced Wednesday, authorities said they now hope communities on the North Shore of Massachusetts are resting a bit easier.
“I stood there that morning on Essex Street, just hours after that shooting,” Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker said at the news conference on the indictments. “You could see the fear, the anxiety. It was palpable. And having the opportunity to stand here today to close that loop to make sure we brought justice for those families, to be able to stand here today and bring a matter of justice, there’s some sense of gratitude not only for the families but law enforcement as well.”
More on the Trinitarios
Lynn
Sep 7, 2023
The Trinitarios gang is operating in Mass. – here's what experts say to look out for
Massachusetts
Feb 19
Trinitarios gang members arrested in connection with 6 murders in Lawrence, Lynn
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| 1 | США нашли «эвакуатор» для спутников: Пентагон выделил $8,4 млн на их захват и сход с орбиты | 0 | 9.98 | 17-08-2026 |