March 21, 2021 — Boston Latin Kings Gregory (King Trece) Peguero-Colon and Jeremia (King Sweepy) Medina pleaded guilty to drug and racketeering charges stemming from 2019’s historic Operation Throne Down, a dismantling of Latin Kings operations on the entire East Coast of the United States in a joint effort staged by the DEA, FBI and ATF. Peguero and Medina’s pleas make it 40 convictions in the case to date.

Operation Throne Down landed in December 2019 and nailed more than 60 Latin Kings all up and down the Eastern Seaboard. “King 3PO” Peguero-Colon, 48, chairman of the Latin King’s New England “Crown Council,” will be sentenced in federal court out of Boston in June. “King Sweepy” Medina, 33, is set to see the judge to hear his punishment three weeks later in July.

Peguero-Colon acted in a “consigliere-like” role to Latin King’s brass, according to law enforcement. Medina was described by authorities as an enforcer for the New Bedford chapter.

The Latin King’s “North Shore Boss in Massachusetts, Israel (King Imperial) Rodriguez, pleaded guilty in the case last month. The No. 1 defendant in the case, Springfield’s Michael (King Merlin) Cecchetelli, is the Latin Kings East Coast boss, per the indictment. Cecchetelli has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Even though the Latin Kings are mainly a Hispanic criminal organization, Cecchetelli has risen through the ranks as an Italian. Per court documents, the 41-year old King Merlin reports directly to Latin Kings national administrators in Chicago and is connected to the Genovese crime family out of New York via the Genovese syndicate’s Western Massachusetts wing.