A high-ranking member of the MS-13 street gang was sentenced to serve 13 years in prison for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that included a murder plot.

42-year-old Joel Cortez, also known as "Pee Wee," was sentenced in federal court in Newark on Wednesday.

Cortez is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence in California. His sentence for the racketeering conspiracy will run concurrently with the time he's already serving.

Prosecutors say Cortez was tasked with consolidating MS-13's east coast gang cliques into a "national program" under a single leadership structure.

As part of this work, authorities say Cortez coordinated the distribution of Mexican cartel drugs and signed off on the murder of a rival gang leader in Hudson County that investigators were able to stop.