WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized federal prosecutors in Los Angeles to seek the death penalty against three MS-13 gang members charged with slaying an FBI informant, according to an April 8 letter obtained by The Post.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said Thursday that after receiving the missive, his office would pursue capital punishment against Dennis Anaya Urias, Grevil Zelaya Santiago, and Roberto Carlos Aguilar after each was charged last year with one count of murder in aid of racketeering.
The trio — who were also charged with two counts apiece for conspiracy to retaliate against a witness — have been in federal custody since their arrest in May 2025 as part of a racketeering and methamphetamine trafficking case.
“The death penalty is reserved for some of the most heinous crimes,” Essayli told The Post. “The defendants in this case have met that criteria.”
“Urias and Aguilar are Salvadoran nationals. Urias has a green card. Aguilar is an illegal alien. Santiago is an illegal alien from Honduras,” he said, before declaring that the “thugs and terrorists will find no shelter under this administration. If you take someone’s life, then you will forfeit your own.”
Urias, 27, and Santiago, 25, fatally shot the federal informant, identified in court documents as “H.B.”, at a grocery store in south Los Angeles on Feb. 18 last year, prosecutors alleged.
One hour earlier, the victim also encountered Aguilar, 30, inside the store, prompting “a series of events that led to Urias and Santiago shooting and killing the victim,” Essayli noted.
H.B. called 911 after what appeared to be a “chance encounter” with Aguilar turned into a first attempt on his life — but one of the gang member’s guns didn’t fire.
The attempted shooter was “dressed in all black, with a handkerchief covering his face,” while his companion was a “Latino, had long hair, and was wearing a black top and blue jeans,” court filings show.
The FBI agent later identified the long-haired Latino as Aguilar, and the failed shooting led to H.B. retreating inside the Superior Grocers at Figueroa Avenue and 92nd Street.
Two other men within minutes climbed out of a Honda CR-V that pulled up outside the grocery store, and H.B. put in a call to his FBI handler.
Security camera footage showed two men — alleged to be Urias and Santiago — chasing H.B. into the store.
The agent then “heard through the telephone several gunshots and H.B. stopped responding,” according to an affidavit filed with the court.
MS-13 members had been aware of H.B.’s status as a cooperating witness for the feds. A leader of the gang’s “Bagos” clique gave the “green light” to target him.
The FBI special agent listened in on a phone call three days after the murder between another cooperating witness and the Bagos clique “shotcaller,” identified as A.R. in the affidavit, who told him he “had to clean out my garbage, you understand, and well that work you cannot say no to.”
Prosecutors noted in a criminal complaint that MS-13 members have often assaulted, robbed, murdered or “promoted a climate of fear in the community through threats of harm and violence” to “enhance” their status in the gang.
The case, brought in the Central District of California, is scheduled to head to trial on July 21 and is part of Operation Take Back America, which is cracking down on drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations.
