Four members of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua have pleaded guilty in federal court for the murders of two American citizens on a residential street in the Bronx.

The Justice Department announced the pleas on June 3, 2026. The defendants are Keiber Jaen Martinez (“Keybe”), Samuel Gonzalez Castro (“Klei” and “Kley”), Eferson Morillo-Gomez (“Jefferson” and “Efe Trebol”), and Keineyer Ibarra-Mujica (“Keiner”). Each admitted to two counts of murder using a firearm and one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The case stems from the May 24, 2024 killings of Claretha LaQuesha Daniels, 44, and Justin Lawless, 36, and the non-fatal shooting of a third unarmed American citizen. All three victims were New York City residents.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York stated that the defendants entered the United States illegally and murdered Daniels and Lawless in the middle of a residential street on May 24, 2024, which resulted in a third victim being shot. “This recent Memorial Day Sunday marked a tragic date: two years to the day that Ms. Daniels and Mr. Lawless lost their lives,” Clayton said.

A fifth codefendant, Jarwin Valero-Calderon (“La Fama”), pleaded guilty last week to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence for a September 30, 2024, gunpoint carjacking. Three additional defendants have previously pleaded guilty to other offenses.

All eight defendants charged in the Tren de Aragua prosecution before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote have now been convicted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously prosecuted gangs in the Bronx, noted that the case was personal and stated, “Tren de Aragua is a terrorist organization with no place and no future in the United States.”

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin described Tren de Aragua as “one of the most vicious gangs on planet earth,” adding, “They rape, maim, and murder for sport.”

The convictions are part of federal efforts to dismantle the gang, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. The Justice Department’s Joint Task Force Vulcan reported charging over 260 members and associates of Tren de Aragua since its creation.

Sentencing remains pending, but the convictions have taken effect. The men who brought guns, drugs, and murder onto a Bronx street are no longer pretending they didn’t.