A notorious Latin American gang is believed to have established a presence in London and has been linked to three killings in the capital.
Los Trinitarios was formed in 1993 by two Dominican prisoners at New York’s Rikers Island jail. From there, the organisation expanded rapidly across the United States, Central and South America, and Spain.
In the US, members are reportedly more likely to use machetes than guns, viewing the bladed weapons as more “personal” instruments of violence.
The group takes its name from La Trinitaria, the secret society that helped the Dominican Republic secure independence. Although it began within the Dominican community, Los Trinitarios now recruits people from a range of ethnic backgrounds.
Its alleged criminal activities include drug dealing, armed robbery, sex trafficking and prostitution. Members are also associated with green bandannas.
The gang is now thought to have extended its reach into the UK, with alleged leaders recruiting children from Spanish-speaking communities around Elephant and Castle in south London.
The Metropolitan Police has not publicly commented on Los Trinitarios’ alleged London connections. However, after a man arrested in Barcelona was convicted over one of three London attacks last year, Spain’s interior ministry appeared to acknowledge the gang’s presence in the capital.
Los Trinitarios began in 1993 when two Dominican prisoners founded the group at New York’s Rikers Island jail, before it spread throughout the US, Central and South America and Spain
Yeray Sanchez Morales died after attackers stabbed him and struck him with a glass bottle
A Met Police officer carrying a Taser arrests one of the men who attacked Mr Morales
“The Trinitarios youth group is currently one of the most active and violent groups nationwide,” the statement said.
It added that the group “has branches in several European countries where, according to investigators, they also carry out violent criminal activities related to drug trafficking, document forgery and scams, among others.”
The latest killing associated with the gang was the savage stabbing of a 17-year-old boy outside a McDonald’s on the Old Kent Road in south-east London.
Yeray Sanchez Morales was sitting outside the restaurant with a friend shortly before 11pm on August 27 last year when he was stabbed and struck with a bottle in front of a group of teenagers.
Police discovered photographs of bloodied hands and knives on the suspects’ social media accounts. Together with CCTV footage, the images helped investigators connect them to the attack.
Among those convicted were 18-year-olds Christhofer Jesus Vasquez and Andres Tapia Londono. Both were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison.
Isaac Ros Ramirez, 18, from Hackney in east London, and Juan Betancourt Hoyos, 21, from Haringey, were convicted of violent disorder and given community orders. Three 16-year-old boys also received community orders for a series of offences.
Mr Morales’ friends said they could not understand why he had been singled out by the attackers.
Born in Lanzarote to Colombian parents, he quickly made a life in Britain. He later featured in the Guardian, telling the newspaper that he supported England during the 2022 World Cup because he had grown to love the country.
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Giovanny Rendon Bedoya, 21, died in a “vicious” attack by a South American gang on Hillingdon Street last April
Bryan Villada Hernandez, 20, (left) was apprehended at the scene shortly after the murder, while Joseph Jimenez, 22, was arrested in Chichester
His mother, Elena Morales said her son ‘loved to dance and sing’, and dreamt of becoming a PE teacher.
His attackers’ trial heard how one of them was heard shouting ‘let’s go and rob people’ and ‘vamos, vamos, vamos’.
Videos showed Mr Morales being stabbed nine times in the neck and chest. He had been sitting next to his friend, also 17, who survived being stabbed in the back of his left shoulder.
The prosecutor, Anthony Orchard KC, earlier secured convictions against five men who murdered Giovanny Rendon Bedoya during a ‘vicious’ onslaught in Walworth last April.
The men sliced off the 21-year-old’s fingertips before hacking him to death with machetes.
Angel Gonzalez Angulo, 19, Christian Batista-Gonzalez, 23, Brian Villada-Hernandes, 19, Zozoro Boizo, 21, and Joseph Jimenez, 22, denied murder but were all convicted after 18 hours of jury deliberation.
The court was told how Mr Bedoya was chased into an alleyway near Hillingdon Street and Langdale Close, where he was cornered and ambushed.
Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, was convicted of the murder of Gregory Catillo Volquez, 36
Carlos Akum Metumbe, of Spain, was also convicted of murder alongside Benito Ramirez Kones, 20
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Gonzalez managed to flee the country entirely.
But after an international search, he was located and arrested near Barcelona on May 19, 2025, before being extradited to the UK to stand trial.
The Spanish authorities said Gonzalez was wanted by the UK authorities because ‘the fugitive and five other alleged members of the Trinitarios gang violently accosted another young man from a rival gang following a dispute’.
Another murder victim, 36-year-old Gregory Catillo Volquez, suffered 22 stab wounds after being attacked on a street in north London on January 13 last year.
Benito Ramirez Kones, 20, and 22-year-old Carlos Akum Metumbe, of Spain, were convicted of murder alongside Italian national Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22. They were sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison.