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A babyfaced Los Angeles gangster has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for his role in a horrifying killing in the SoCal mountains.
Cops arrested MS-13 member Kevin Arteaga in a dramatic LA takedown in 2019 that saw 22 alleged gangbangers with the supergang’s infamous Fulton clique charged in connection with first-degree murder and racketeering.
Arteaga, 27, has been in federal custody since his arrest. He pled guilty to one count of racketeering in July 2025 and admitted in his plea agreement to his role in a fatal stabbing in Angeles National Forest, prosecutors said.
He was sentenced Tuesday for his crimes.
Arteaga, who was also known as “Streetboy” and “Lucifer,” was collared in a major takedown of MS-13.
The decades-old gang is one of the three largest in LA. Fed by immigrants from Central America, MS-13 deals in narcotics, human trafficking and extortion.
President Donald Trump has identified MS-13 as a target for federal immigration crackdowns.
The Fulton clique subset of MS-13, of which Arteaga is a member, was known to be particularly violent.
In announcing the 2019 MS-13 bust where Arteaga was collared, former U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said young Fulton wannabes such as Arteaga committed horrific killings just to gain admission to the vicious crew.
“We’re seeing an influx of younger gang members coming into the area associating themselves with the Fulton clique who are extremely violent, who have to commit murders to join the clique,” said Hanna at the time.
The illegal immigrant from El Salvador joined MS-13’s San Fernando Valley-based Fulton clique when he was just 16, court papers show.
He was only 19 when he participated in the April 7, 2018 fatal stabbing of a man in Angeles National Forest, according to court papers.
Arteaga threw the victim’s dead body over a hill, according to federal authorities, and later burned the clothes he was wearing during the murder.
The federal takedown where Arteaga was arrested focused on the Fulton clique, which is fed by an influx of young immigrants from Central America, prosecutors said.
Under the influence of elder gangsters, younger wannabes who wanted to become members of the clique were “required to kill an MS-13 rival or someone perceived to be adverse to MS-13 to be initiated into MS-13,” according to the federal indictment unveiled in the takedown.
At least four people were killed in Angeles National Forest by Fulton clique members who wielded machetes, baseball bats and knives, according to federal prosecutors.
Most of those arrested in the takedown participated in murders, prosecutors said.
MS-13 has approximately 15 cliques operating in Los Angeles, including the Fulton, Francis, Directos Locos, and Los Angeles Locos cliques, according to prosecutors.
The Fulton clique’s strongholds include Whitsett Sports Field in North Hollywood, California, and the wash area located at the entrance to the Los Angeles riverbed at Fulton Avenue and Vanowen Street, also in North Hollywood, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said MS-13’s Fulton clique has several levels of membership including paro, observacion, chequeo, homeboy, and corredor.
Violence was mandatory for those who wanted to join.
“Before becoming a homeboy, a member was expected to commit at least one homicide,” court papers said.
“After participating in a homicide, other clique members would ‘jump in’ the prospective homeboy by administering a beating for 13 seconds.”
English (US)