'Reign Of Terror In MA Has Come To End': Violent North Shore Gang Dealt 'Significant Blow'

LYNN, MA — The U.S. Attorney's Office, Essex County District Attorney and local and federal authorities on Wednesday announced a 300-page mass of indictments against the leadership and associates of the Trinitarios gang — described as a transnational criminal organization accused of at least six killings in Lynn and Lawrence, and what U.S. Attorney Leah Foley called "brazen acts of murder, assault and narcotics distribution, instilling fear in communities across the Commonwealth."

"The Trinitarios committed numerous other shootings on the North Shore of Massachusetts," Foley said during a news conference in which she declared the gang's "reign of terror in Massachusetts" had come to an end. "Some with automatic weapons. it is alleged that the Trinitarios targeted people simply because of the car they were driving. Or they fired at people for being in the wrong neighborhood.

"The court documents filed today detailed brazen violence, shootings of entire neighborhoods, riddling cars and homes with bullets over petty neighborhood disputes by an organization bent on violence, power and death."

Foley said that the gang members "did not just commit violence, they celebrated it" and that the indictments announced on Wednesday will "deal a significant blow to the Trinitarios after years of bloodshed, drug trafficking and lawlessness."

Foley said two of the drive-by attacks gang members were accused of in Lynn included one at a Labor Day weekend farewell party for someone going off to college — which she said "numerous Trinitarios were alleged to have scouted the party where they believed a rival gang member was present" — where two were killed and five were injured, and one aimed at three teens walking home where dozens of rounds were fired from a fully automatic and left two dead, including a 16-year-old.

"You could hear the surviving victim screaming out his friend's name who lay dying in the street two days after Christmas," she said.

Officials said some members of the Dominican-based gang were in the country legally with green cards and as naturalized citizens, and some were not, with some of those indicted fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.

"Today, the Trinitarios' reign of terror in Massachusetts has come to an end," Foley said. "Today, our communities are safer from the removal of these alleged violent offenders from our streets and, where appropriate, from our country."

Essex County DA Paul Tucker called the work between local, state and federal authorities to disrupt the gang activity "nothing short of breathtaking."

"When we heard from the community," Tucker said of what he called a "wave of violence unleashed upon the city of Lynn" in recent years, "and it really hits to the heart of what a community is, kids were afraid to walk to school, when families were afraid to come out at night.

"You could see the fear, the anxiety, it was palpable."

Sixteen members of the accused Trinitarios criminal enterprise in Massachusetts were charged with six of these murders — two of which took place in Lawrence in 2017 and the two double murders in Lynn in 2023. Four additional killings are being prosecuted by the Essex District Attorney's Office.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Enmanuel Paula-Cabral serves as the State Supreme of the Trinitarios for Massachusetts, responsible for the entirety of the gang's criminal activities, coordination with other state leaders and communication with leadership of the Trinitarios in the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said he Massachusetts Trinitarios recruit new members among
communities of legal immigrants and undocumented residents from the Dominican Republic — specifically juveniles in local high schools in Lawrence and Lynn. The Trinitarios appeal to their shared Spanish language and culture, Dominican patriotism and use the appearance of prosperity and brotherhood.

It is further charged that members are generally initiated into the gang after a period of observation or probation and are often inducted following the completion of a "mission" — which the U.S. Attorney's Office said is generally a substantial act of violence such as shootings, beatings, or fistfights with rival gang members.

"Such shameless and senseless acts of violence have no place anywhere," Foley said, "especially not in any city in Massachusetts. If you threaten the safety of our residents, we will find you, we will hold you accountable, and we will ensure that justice is served."