Leader of notorious Mass. gang sentenced to prison following decade of violence

A 26-year-old former leader of a notorious Massachusetts gang known for a decade of bloodshed was sentenced to prison Wednesday.

Aaron Diaz Liranzo, also known as “Sosa,” was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Nathaniel M. Gorton to 14 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Diaz Liranzo was arrested and charged in February when authorities said he was the leader of the Lynn Chapter of the Trinitarios gang. He pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy, or conspiring to participate in criminal operations in a pattern of illegal activity, in March.

He was one of at least 22 active gang members who were charged with state or federal crimes earlier this year. He was the sixth gang member charged to plead guilty.

The charges stem from a slew of organized criminal activities in Massachusetts over the past decade, including the murders of six people and the attempted killings of 11 others. In February, officials called the indictments a “significant blow” to the criminal enterprise.

Diaz Liranzo was the leader of the Lynn Chapter from at least 2021 until 2025, called “the Primera” or “Number One,” according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.

The 26-year-old admitted to participating in a shooting outside of a Lynn nightclub in March 2019, where he shot at three people inside a car, the office said. Two people were severely injured, though both survived.

The shooting was planned to target rival gang members and the victims were lured there by another gang member who “posed as a woman who needed a ride,” the district attorney’s office said.

Massachusetts Trinitarios have committed multiple homicides in Essex County over the past decade and are believed to be responsible for numerous attempted murders, shootings, kidnappings and robberies, the district attorney’s office said.