HUNTER: Cops say MS-13 gangbanger ran sex trafficking ring from prison
· Toronto Sun
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A member of the bloodthirsty MS-13 street gang now caged for attempted murder has been arrested and charged with human trafficking.
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He allegedly did his pimping from behind the concrete walls of a Canadian prison.
Peel Regional Police pulled back the curtain on the shocking Project Mermaid probe on Wednesday morning.
“Human trafficking is a psychological and physical crime,” vice and human trafficking Det. Sgt. Bob Hackenbrook told the Toronto Sun . “Victims are tricked by traffickers who pretend to care about them or love them. But in reality, they will control all aspects of their life.”
Shot innocent man 13 times
Cops suspect that there are additional victims in the MS-13 orchestrated sex trafficking ring.
Sitting atop the murderous gang’s criminal pyramid in Ontario is allegedly Carlos Gutierrez , 30, a frequent flier. Gutierrez is the alleged leader of the MS-13 Toronto “clica”, which is what the gang calls its subgroups.
Its biggest cash-generating enterprise is murder for hire.
Gutierrez was convicted in 2025 for attempted murder in the shocking mistaken identity shooting of an elderly dog walker in Schomberg and sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty. Thirteen bullets were parked in the innocent victim.
The Canadian citizen and his suspected MS-13 buddies were exposed and charged with a slew of offences in a York Regional Police probe.
Exploited across GTA
But prison walls did not stop Gutierrez. Not for a second.
According to cops, detectives from the Vice and Human Trafficking Unit and assisted by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) arrested the main man and Marcos Ariel Marinoni, 42, of Mississauga in the scheme.
In November 2025, Peel cops launched Project Mermaid, an investigation into allegations that a female victim was being trafficked and sexually exploited throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
It is alleged that Gutierrez — serving a lengthy bounce in federal prison — used an unauthorized cellphone to communicate with the victim and Marinoni. Cops say the alleged pimps used intimidation, manipulation, and threats of violence to control the victim while financially benefiting from her exploitation.
Hackenbrook said Gutierrez had been serving his time in a Quebec prison before more recently being transferred to a federal prison in Ontario.
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MS-13 presence ‘deeply concerning’
The veteran detective said officers executed four search warrants in Mississauga and the Collingwood area, where Marinoni had relocated. He called the mere presence of MS-13 “deeply concerning,” adding that Marinoni has the gang name tattooed on his forehead.
The two accused allegedly knew the victim through another associate.
“She didn’t want to be in that world but became trapped and before she knew it was being trafficked around the GTA,” Hackenbrook added. “Thankfully, she is OK now. For any victim of human traffic, you have to be strong and courageous to come forward.
“We believe there are more victims in the GTA and Collingwood area and we encourage them to come forward.”
Marinoni, 42, is charged with trafficking in persons, receiving benefit resulting from trafficking in persons,
advertising sexual services, communicate with anyone for purpose of obtaining sexual services, material benefit from sexual services, exercise control, assault with a weapon, knowledge of unauthorized possession of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, and withholding or destroying documents for the purposes of trafficking in persons.
Both remain in custody
Amigo Numero Uno, Gutierrez, is charged with trafficking in persons, receiving benefit resulting from trafficking in persons, advertising sexual services, communicate with anyone for purpose of obtaining sexual services, material benefit from sexual services, and exercise control, direction or influence.
Both men remain in custody.
MS-13 is designated as a terrorist organization in Canada and the United States.
Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators with the Vice and Human Trafficking Unit at 905-453-2121 ext. 3555.
— With files from Joe Warmington