A 23-year-old Mexican gang queenpin known for carving out the hearts of her victims and offering them up as sacrifices to a pagan god of death has landed half a century in prison.
Michelle Angelica Pineda, a k a “La Chely,” was tried in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and sentenced to 50 years behind bars Friday, the FBI said in a release.
“Pineda was known for her extreme brutality, such as dismembering bodies, removing hearts, and placing the hearts in front of ‘Santa Muerte’ altars and statues,” the FBI said.
Santa Muerte is a pagan deity representing death.
The cold-hearted killer was only 22 when the FBI and Customs and Border Protection arrested her at a motel in El Paso early last year, according to MENIO.
She had entered the US illegally and operated a massive drug network along the border for the Artistas Asesinos, or Doble A Cartel, according to the FBI.
The Artistas Asesinos both traffic drugs and act as an enforcement arm for the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, according to the US District Attorney’s Office.
Arresting authorities found Pineda holed up with guns, bladed weapons and a cornucopia of drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and Xanax.
She had been wanted for five murders in Mexico, including a double homicide against a couple in 2023 and the slaying of a man whose mutilated body was found in the streets of Juárez in 2024, MENIO reported.
The latter murder earned her and four co-conspirators the 50-year sentence.
“Working hand-in-hand with our partners—whether in law enforcement, the private sector, and with foreign law enforcement agencies—is paramount in order to keep people like Pineda from bringing violence and drugs into the United States and our communities,” said Jarod Brown, FBI El Paso special agent in charge, in a statement.
