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On June 9, 2026, federal prosecutors announced a major takedown, charging 26 alleged leaders, members, and associates of the Trinitarios with racketeering conspiracy.

This case is being handled as part of the Homeland Security Task Force and Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative that marshals the full resources of the DOJ to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from violent crime. 

The Massachusetts Trinitarios conducted extensive recruitment drives targeting immigrants and illegal aliens with a particular focus on juveniles enrolled in high schools in Lawrence and Lynn. This indictment focuses mainly on members from the Lawrence, Haverhill, and Boston chapters of the gang. It stems from a 2 year, multi-agency investigation led by the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) that has so far resulted in charges against 56 Trinitarios members and associates. 

Investigators have linked the group to 11 murders and 30 attempted murders since 2017, underscoring the gang’s long history of fueling violence across the region.

U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley stated that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been relentless in its efforts to dismantle and decimate the Trinitarios in Massachusetts. Over the past two years, their work has resulted in charges against a total of 56 Trinitarios members and associates. The updated indictment includes eight members who were already charged earlier, several of whom have either been sentenced or taken plea deals in related cases.

Authorities also rounded up seven illegal aliens linked to the gang, some of whom have already been deported while others are now facing removal proceedings.

The Trinitarios were said to run a pretty organized operation with a clear hierarchy. At the top were “Cabinets,” groups of leaders who handled recruitment, enforced discipline, and managed a shared fund that supported their criminal activities and helped take care of members locked up. 

They even had their own written rulebook, called the “Magna Carta,” that laid out how everything worked. The gang used distinctive symbols, colors, and slogans.

The complaint states that the Trinitarios produced music and videos filled with gang symbolism and pageantry, showing members in signature colors flaunting weapons and cash. The lyrics celebrated the group’s propensity for violence, successful drug trafficking, and other criminal moneymaking ventures, using them as direct threats and warnings to rival gangs.

Law enforcement seized more than 600 grams of fentanyl, potentially fatal to hundreds of thousands of people, along with 200 grams of cocaine, cutting agents, manufacturing and packaging paraphernalia, and three firearms from a Trinitarios stash house in Tewksbury, while recovering more than 30 illegal guns across the wider operation.

Recruiters zeroed in on Dominican neighborhoods, targeting high schools in Lawrence and Lynn and pulling in teenagers. New members had to go through a probation stretch, proving themselves on missions like drive-by shootings or beatings, before getting jumped in during a ceremony that included oaths and the signature beaded necklaces. The younger kids usually started out as lookouts or running guns and weapons around.

The gang is accused of ruling entire neighborhoods by intimidating rivals, shaking down local businesses, and locking down the drug trade in the area. Court records also detail how they allegedly tried to silence witnesses and carried out violent retaliation against anyone who crossed them.

This latest crackdown builds on earlier efforts, including the February 2025 federal RICO charges against 22 leaders, members, and associates of the Lynn chapter and the Trinitarios’ state leadership. The wave of guilty pleas and sentences that followed, including 14 years for one of the chapter leaders, shows that authorities continue to keep heavy pressure on the group.

HSI New England’s Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Grimming stated that Massachusetts communities are now safer following the arrests of 24 alleged gang members. The operation involved HSI agents executing multiple search warrants in close coordination with the FBI, DEA, ATF, Massachusetts State Police, local law enforcement departments, and other partner agencies.

This case is being handled as part of the Homeland Security Task Force and Operation Take Back America. Both initiatives are focused on taking down transnational criminal organizations, cartels, and street gangs through coordinated work across multiple agencies. Prosecutors are reminding everyone that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This latest takedown delivers a major blow to the Trinitarios’ operations in Massachusetts. Authorities say they have dismantled the leadership and fully disrupted the gang’s operations, effectively decimating the organization across the region. Officials vow to maintain relentless pressure on any remaining threats to public safety in Massachusetts and beyond.