A leader of the Latin Kings who helped establish the criminal organization in Maryland has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, including for trying to kill a man in Wheaton who made a disparaging remark about the street gang.
Prosecutors said Andres Echevarria, 33, of New York, was an enforcer for Latin Kings factions in Maryland and New York. The leadership is predominantly located in Chicago and New York.
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Echevarria was one of 19 Latin King members indicted in November on charges of conspiring to commit murders, robberies, witness tampering and arson to further the Latin Kings’ power.
Echevarria, who’s gang name is King B-Boy, faces up to a maximum of life in prison at his sentencing on Sept. 2.
“This disturbing case demonstrates that gang membership leads to both organized criminal schemes and senseless acts of violence,” said U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
In the spring of 2007, gang members began to branch out from New York to Maryland, calling the area group the Royal Lion Tribe of Maryland.
Last summer, Echevarria and other the Latin Kings members lured a drug dealer to a location in Montgomery County under the guise of a drug transaction, and robbed him. Echevarria kept the gun aimed at the dealer’s head, while the others stole his marijuana.
Around the same time, Echevarria planned the robbery of a federally licensed firearms dealer in Frederick after seeing an advertisement that the business was going to be receiving a large shipment of guns. In the days leading up to the shipment, the Latin Kings scouted out the area, but on the day of the robbery, the gang members saw a large presence of military personnel nearby and scrapped the heist.
On Nov. 1, 2008, Echevarria chased a man who had made disparaging remarks about the gang in Wheaton. The gang chased the man down and Echevarria stabbed and wounded him with a two-pronged tool.
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