A member of the 18th Street gang, notorious for its violent activities ranging from assault to murder, received a 40-year federal prison sentence for a triple shooting in Rockville, Maryland, that resulted in the death of a 22-year-old male, identified as Danis Alcides Salgado Mata. The sentencing comes after a guilty plea by Cesar De La O Rodriguez, a 21-year-old Salvadoran national, to charges of RICO Conspiracy and conspiracy to commit violent crime in aid of racketeering-murder, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

In a bid to advance his rank within the gang, Rodriguez, also known as "Lunatico," was involved in following and ultimately killing Mata, who was believed to be a member of the rival MS-13 gang and this escalation of violence, it did not cease with the conviction, evidenced by Rodriguez's participation in a jailhouse stabbing mere days after his guilty plea, resulting in additional charges of attempted murder and malicious wounding. Following his incarceration, Rodriguez will also face deportation hearings, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office .

On the night of December 19, 2021, Rodriguez and his accomplices trailed Mata to his residence on the 13700 block of Ashby Road, where the shooting occurred; Mata's mother and stepfather were also injured but survived the incident. The pursuit and attack were conducted under a senior 18th Street member's directive, leading to Rodriguez's promotion within the gang to a full-fledged "homeboy," as detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office .

The investigation that culminated in Rodriguez's sentence was a component of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation, a multi-agency approach consisting of efforts from the FBI Washington Field Office, the Montgomery County Police Department, United States Marshals Service, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, with the focus extended into dismantling higher-level drug traffickers and criminal organizations and reducing drug-related violence, the same remains an active part of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking (HIDTA) Washington Area Group Initiative. The prosecution was carried out by Assistant United States Attorneys John Korba, Sitara Witanachchi, and William Hart.