Nelson Torres Delgado, known as "El Burro," a leader of the La Lorenzana gang who was a fugitive for seven years and once among the most wanted by federal authorities, reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, avoiding a potential death penalty or life sentence. Under the deal, filed Tuesday in his criminal case, he will plead guilty to two counts: conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and using an automatic firearm to commit murder. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 30 to 32 years.
Torres Delgado must appear before Judge Pedro Delgado Hernández of the U.S. District Court in Hato Rey this Friday to enter his plea, when a sentencing date will also be set. The agreement dropped eight other charges, mostly drug trafficking counts, and cleared him of blame for the killing of a person identified as G.A.H.; he will instead plead guilty in the killing of a person identified as R.M.O.
Authorities had linked him to multiple murders and massacres in Caguas, Cayey and Cidra, and to supplying heroin, crack, cocaine and marijuana in public housing projects including Brisas del Turabo, Raúl Castellón, Turabo Heights and Juana Jiménez García, and in the Morales, La Pajilla and Bunker neighborhoods of Caguas, from 2017 through the July 2023 indictment.