A leader of an MS-13 street gang who was facing the death penalty has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and murdering a fellow gang member, according to the U.S. attorney for Maryland.

Thirty-year-old Juan Carlos Moreira, of Silver Spring, admitted in federal court that in 1998 he and three other Savadorans founded the murderous Sailor Locos Salvatruchos Westside in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County and left a wake of terror and dead bodies around the D.C. region, court documents said.