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The Trinitarios is a Dominican American criminal organization founded by Dominicans in New York City, New York in 1993.
The group suffered a major blow in 2009, as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York dismantled the group through a series of prosecutions. In 2011, 50 members and associates of the Bronx Trinitarios Gang (BTG) were charged with federal racketeering, narcotics and firearms offenses. Forty-one defendants were charged with a racketeering conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in connection to alleged participation in a criminal enterprise that included narcotics trafficking, murder and attempted murder.
In 2014, the Trinitarios' co-founder and former leader, Sierra, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the racketeering conspiracy, to run consecutively with a 22½ year to life sentence in New York that Sierra was already serving as a result of his 1989 murder conviction. National Leader of "Trinitarios" Gang Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 19 Years in Prison, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (July 25, 2014). Some 140 other members, including Sierra's chief lieutenants, were also convicted and received lengthy prison sentences.
Later, however, the group had a resurgence. Internal factions of the Trinitarios have battled with one another, beginning in 2011, when a leader of a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, chapter of the Trinitarios attempted to expand to the Bronx without authorization. The gang war that ensued intensified in 2018, with several shootings.
In February 2025, federal authorities announced that they had arrested 22 reputed members and associates of the gang on a federal racketeering indictment charge that includes six murders that took place in the Massachusetts cities of Lynn and Lawrence between 2017 and 2023. Federal prosecutors allege that the Trinitarios were involved in racketeering since at least 2019 in several Massachusetts cities including Boston, Malden, Salem, Haverhill, Peabody, Middleton and the aforementioned cities of Lynn and Lawrence. In addition, it is alleged that the gang operates a lucrative drug trade in Manchester, New Hampshire and the state of Maine.
The Trinitarios are known for their high degree of organization, including a hierarchical structure, Drug Market Analysis, 2009, New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, National Drug Intelligence Center, U.S. Department of Justice, pp. 5-6, 11.Jan Ransom, 'Junior' Guzman Killing: 5 Convicted of Hacking Innocent Teenager to Death, New York Times (June 14, 2019). as well as for their use of brutal violence. Testimony given against Trinitarios in court indicated that "one needs a sponsor to join, and once in, new members receive a rule book, take an oath and swear to abide by the gang's constitution." The gang's "weapon of choice" is the machete, but members also carry baseball bats, guns, and knives. Criminal activities perpetrated by Trinitarios include drug dealing, in heroin and cocaine, as well as assaults and home invasions. The Trinitarios have infiltrated schools as a recruiting ground.
Seven Barcelona-based members were convicted of using a kitchen knife to carve a fifty centimeter "X" into the back of a gang member deemed a traitor for associating with MS-13 on March 21, 2012. Una cruz para ‘marcar’ al traidor Jesús García, El País (22 March 2013) During the trial, the Trinitarios were designated a criminal organization which allowed heavier sentences to be imposed upon the perpetrators and the gang's leaders. Could Spain Designation Push LatAm Gangs Towards Org Crime? Charles Parkinson, InSight Crime (14 May 2014) On the same day as the ruling – May 11, 2014 – a brawl occurred in Madrid involving Trinitarios and Ñetas, leading to the arrests of twenty-six gang members. Dos heridos graves y 26 detenidos en una reyerta entre Ñetas y Trinitarios F. Javier Barroso, El País (12 May 2014)
In August 2018 several Trinitarios gang members were arrested for shooting at a house in Lawrence, Massachusetts. A Trinitarios gang member was arrested in January 2019 for the shooting of a 16-year-old girl in Lawrence.
In June 2018, a Trinitario gang member from Haverhill, Massachusetts was arrested for the murder of a rival Gangster Disciples member. A Haverhill detective wrote that the arrests were in connection with an ongoing feud (a gang war) between the Trinitarios and their rivals, the Gangster Disciples, that had resulted in multiple shootings."
In November 2019, in Massachusetts, 18 Trinitarios were among 32 arrested in "Operation Emerald Crush." The operation involved more than 70 federal, state and local officers who carried out the arrests of suspects alleged to have sold massive amounts of firearms and drugs including cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and crack cocaine with an estimated street value of $120,000. Authorities confiscated 79 firearms in the operation. Out of the 79 guns, which came in from out of state, 17 were stolen and at least two were used in shootings. In one case, undercover officers were able to buy 27 guns in one transaction.
In April 2024, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said 121 indictments were levied against known members and associates of the Trinitarios for numerous crimes across the state.
The murder outraged the public, and video footage of the murder went Viral video. In June 2019, five Trinitarios were convicted of first-degree murder and other charges, including conspiracy and gang assault, in the murder. Two gang members who participated in the attack testified for the prosecution, revealing the inner workings of the gang. After the verdict was rendered, one of the killers shouted, " Popote, hasta la muerte!" ("Trinitarios until death"). In July 2022, two leaders of a ‘set’ or faction were convicted of murder for ordering the killing. Several others are awaiting trial in connection with the murder.
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