Five members of the Texas Mexican Mafia gang were sentenced this week in Del Rio to prison terms for racketeering-related crimes, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman announced Friday.

They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corruption Organization Act. Investigators blamed the gang for two killings.

The Texas Mexican Mafia was formed in the early 1980s by inmates in the state's prison system, and has branched into criminal activity outside prison, including extortion, narcotics trafficking and violent crime to enforce a 10 percent drug street tax.

The case is the first investigation to target the gang's operations along the Texas–Mexico border area, in Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Crystal City, Carrizo Springs, Uvalde, Sabinal and Hondo.

“The sentencings ... demonstrate the resolve of law enforcement to dismantle violent transnational gangs as they continue their attempts to exert control in the Eagle Pass area to include surrounding communities,” said Vincent Iglio, deputy special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio.

The agency worked jointly with the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and police in Hondo and Uvalde.

Also known as “La Eme” or “Mexikanemi,” the San Antonio-based gang has been the subject of several federal indictments in the Western District of Texas since 1991.

Those sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses are: Juan Alfredo Gloria-Perales, 33, of Eagle Pass, who got 300 months in prison and a $10,000 fine; Orlando Guerrero, 32, of Uvalde, who got 180 months in prison and a $10,000 fine; and Arturo Villarreal, 33, of Eagle Pass, who received 168 months and a $5,000 fine.

Also, Ernesto Ramon, 21, and Abel Melendrez, 38, both of Uvalde, got 121 months and were fined $3,000 each.

Three others who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy were previously sentenced to terms ranging from 84 to 216 months in prison. Four defendants were found guilty at trial in Del Rio, where prosecutors alleged the gang was involved in the Dec. 6, 2006, killing of Christopher Mendez in Concan and Jose Damian Garza in Hondo on July 19, 2008. They await sentencing and face up to life in prison.