El Salvador orders trial of 7 in black widow killings

MEXICO CITY – A court in El Salvador has ordered seven people to stand trial in the “black widow” killing scheme that forced women into arranged marriages and made them collect insurance policies on their husbands.

The court ordered the four women and three men tried on charges including homicide, human trafficking and arranged marriage.

The suspects allegedly worked as part of the Mara Salvatrucha gang structure.

Prosecutors say one suspect hired the women to do housework. Gang members then allegedly offered the women to potential husbands as American citizens who could get them U.S. visas. The husbands were told the life insurance policies were a requirement to get the visas, then they were killed to collect on them.

If convicted of the suspects could face 60 years in prison.