The Latin American street gang recruiting children in the UK: Feared 'Los Trinitarios' is now linked to three London knife killings... with machetes their weapon of choice to target victims

A feared Latin American gang is now believed to be operating in London and has been linked to three killings across the capital.

Los Trinitarios was founded in 1993 by two Dominican inmates at New York's Rikers Island prison before spreading rapidly across the US, Central and South America, and Spain.

Gang members in the US are said to favour machetes over firearms because they view them as a more 'personal' weapon.

Los Trinitarios takes its name from 'La Trinitaria', a secret society formed to help the Dominican Republic gain independence - although its recruits now come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. 

The gang's criminal activities include drug dealing, armed robbery, sex trafficking and prostitution, while members are known for wearing green bandannas.

The mob is now thought to have reached the UK, with leaders allegedly recruiting children from Spanish-speaking communities around Elephant and Castle in south London.

The Met Police has not spoken about Los Trinitarios' links to London. But after the arrest of a man in Barcelona who was convicted of one of last year's three attacks in London, the Spanish interior ministry appeared to confirm its presence there. 

Los Trinitarios was originally founded in 1993 by two Dominicans held at Rikers Island jail in New York before spreading rapidly across the US, Central and South America and Spain

Yeray Sanchez Morales (pictured) died after being stabbed with a glass bottle

One of Mr Morales' attackers being arrested by a Taser-toting Met Police officer 

'The Trinitarios youth group is currently one of the most active and violent groups nationwide,' the statement said. 

'[It] 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 most recent killing linked to the gang was a brutal stabbing attack on 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 just before 11pm on August 27 last year when he was stabbed and hit with a bottle in front of a crowd of teenagers.

Officers found images of bloodied hands and knives on the suspects' social media pages and used the images - alongside CCTV - to link them to the crime. 

They included 18-year-olds Christhofer Jesus Vasquez and Andres Tapia Londono, who were both convicted of manslaughter and jailed for four years each. 

Isaac Ros Ramirez, 18, of Hackney, east London, and Juan Betancourt Hoyos, 21, of Haringey, were convicted of violent disorder and given community orders, while three 16-year-old boys were also handed community orders for a range of offences.

Friends said they had no idea why Mr Morales was targeted by the mob. 

Born in Lanzarote to Colombian parents, he quickly settled into his new home and appeared in a feature in the Guardian where he described supporting England in the 2022 World Cup because of how much he loved the country.

Giovanny Rendon Bedoya (pictured), 21, died in a 'vicious' onslaught from a South American gang in 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

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.