DALLAS — Three members of the Texas Syndicate gang who faced trial today on federal racketeering charges involving murder and drug dealing have reached plea deals with the government.

The full terms of their deals were not yet available, but Marco Medina, a former top Texas Syndicate lieutenant in Dallas, lower-level soldier David Gutierrez and Daniel Arredondo, based mainly in Dallas, entered guilty pleas in a Dallas federal court Monday. Gutierrez will not be sentenced to more than 360 months in prison.

All three men were to be part of a case where, for the first time, federal RICO statutes, designed to bring down mafioso, would have been in a North Texas federal court against a gang.

Security was tight Monday at the courthouse because the structured gang is known to intimidate or kill witnesses, officials say.

At least one Texas Syndicate co-defendant, who has pleaded guilty and was expected to testify, is in the U.S. Marshal's witness protection program, along with family members.

The three men are accused in three gang- and drug-related slayings between 1999 to 2001 in the Dallas area.

One victim was a Texas Syndicate member and one was a rival gang member. The third victim, an associate of a Texas Syndicate member, refused to break off a relationship with the gang member's mother, prosecutors say.

Eleven other Texas Syndicate members who have pleaded guilty are implicated in 10 local murders, officials have said.

Jury selection was expected to begin today but had been delayed as of noon.

The Syndicate is a secretive gang that originated in the 1970s in prisons. Membership is for life, and Syndicate members who are released from prison are expected to do the bidding of those on the inside.