MS-13 gang growing extremely dangerous, FBI says

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2019/09/24/ms-13-members-plead-not-guilty-to-slaying-teen-in-queens-park-in-2017/

MS-13 members plead not guilty to slaying teen in Queens park in 2017
By Andrew Denney
September 24, 2019 | 5:24pm

Three reputed MS-13 members pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges that they knifed a 16-year-old rival gang member to death in May 2017 in a wooded area of Queens.

Melvi Amador-Rios, 28; Josue Leiva, 22; and Luis Rivas, 24, were all already locked up on other charges when the feds unsealed an indictment on Sept. 12 charging them with killing Julio Vasquez in Alley Pond Park near 76th Avenue.

His body was discovered by a 52-year-old birdwatcher.

All three defendants appeared in Brooklyn federal court before Magistrate Judge Robert Levy wearing tan jail scrubs to enter their not guilty pleas. Tattoos covered Amador-Rios’ forearms and neck, as well as Leiva’s forearms.

Amador-Rios, alleged to be the head of the MS-13’s Centrales Locos Salvatruchas clique, has been behind bars since last year on charges that he put out an unsuccessful hit on a rival gang member.

Leiva was hit with robbery and firearms charges in March, and Rivas has been charged with assaulting a fellow inmate at a Manhattan lock-up while he was being held there for an attempted murder charge.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2019/10/01/ms-13-members-get-50-years-to-life-for-2017-mistaken-identity-murder/

MS-13 members get 50 years to life for 2017 mistaken-identity murder
By Andrew Denney
October 1, 2019 | 4:36pm

Two reputed MS-13 gangbangers convicted of killing a 39-year-old man in Nassau County who they mistakenly believed to be part of a rival gang were hit with potential life sentences.

On Tuesday, a Nassau County judge gave both Carlos Flores, 26, and Pedro Rivera, 25, prison sentences of 50 years to life for the cold-blooded killing of Nelson Rodriguez of Hempstead on March 20, 2017, as he walked home from his job at an auto body shop.

Flores and Rivera drove from Hempstead to hunt for a member of the rival 14th Street gang in retaliation for an assault on an MS-13 member, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s office,

The pair spotted Rodriguez walking on Front Street and, though he was not a member of the 14th Street gang, Flores told Rivera to kill Rodriguez.

Rivera exited their vehicle walked past Rodriguez in the opposite direction. The gangbanger then turned around, shot Rodriguez and in the head and, after Rodriguez fell to the ground, Rivera pumped another round in his back.

Rivera was arrested in July 2017 and Flores was collared in October 2018. In August, both men were convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

“These MS-13 members murdered an innocent man in cold blood to settle a perceived gang score, and they will spend the rest of their lives in prison for this depraved crime,” Nassau DA Madeline Singas said in the news release.

Attorneys for Rivera and Flores did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2019/10/16/six-suspected-ms-13-gangbangers-busted-by-feds-in-drug-conspiracy/

Six suspected MS-13 gangbangers busted by feds in drug conspiracy
By Emily Saul and Ben Feuerherd
October 16, 2019 | 8:34pm

Federal authorities in Manhattan busted six suspected MS-13 gangbangers on racketeering, weapons and drug charges, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The suspects — with gang nicknames such as “Smiley,” “Tricky” and “Enigma” — allegedly conspired together to sell methamphetamine in New York City as part of their membership in the vicious Latin American street gang, prosecutors for the Southern District of New York said.

Suspects Amilcar Romero, Jaime Santana, Jose Garcia and Alexander Rivera were hit with narcotics-distribution and racketeering charges, prosecutors said. Cristian Guerrero-Melgares and Gustavo Lleevano-Rivera were charged with narcotics conspiracy, authorities said.

Federal investigators worked with the NYPD to make the busts, which were lauded by law-enforcement officials as arrests that will keep crime down in the city.

“By precisely targeting the relatively small percentage of individuals responsible for committing much of the violence in New York, we are making the safest large city in America even safer,” NYPD Commissioner O’Neill said in a statement.

Garcia, Guerrero-Melvares and Rivera appeared at a court hearing Wednesday where they were presented with the charges against them.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2019/12/20/massive-ms-13-bust-officials-charge-96-members-in-gang-takedown/

Massive MS-13 bust: Officials charge 96 members in gang takedown
By Larry Celona, Ruth Weissmann and Amanda Woods
December 20, 2019 | 12:32pm

Authorities dealt a staggering blow to the murderous MS-13 gang — busting 96 members and associates in the largest takedown of the notorious criminal group in New York State history, prosecutors announced Friday.

The busts — the result of a nearly two-year-long federal wiretapping investigation — essentially wiped out MS-13 on Long Island, according to law enforcement sources.

Many of the arrests were made Thursday and Friday morning, the sources said.

Those arrested include 45 MS-13 members and 19 associates charged with alleged murder conspiracies, drug trafficking, weapons possession and sales, gang violence, and other offenses in a special grand jury indictment, prosecutors said.

The DA’s office, along with federal, state and local officials — who conducted the sweeping investigation — are set to announce the charges at an afternoon press conference.

Among other slayings and assaults, the ruthless gang has been blamed for the brutal killings of Brentwood High School students Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, in September 2016. The victims were hacked and beaten to death with machetes and baseball bats.

President Donald Trump has often cited the dangers of the MS-13 “infestation” to push for tougher immigration laws.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2019/12/27/femal...o-be-tried-as-adult-in-grisly-ms-13-slayings/

Female suspect known as ‘Little Devil’ to be tried as adult in grisly MS-13 slayings
By Elizabeth Rosner and Ebony Bowden
December 27, 2019 | 4:01pm | Updated

Victims of the MS-13 quadruple slaying: Justin Llivicura (L), Jefferson Villalobos, Michael Lopez Banega and Jorge Tigre.


A young woman who is accused of luring four MS-13 gang murder victims to their deaths in a brutal 2017 slaying, will be prosecuted as an adult, a judge ruled Thursday.

The suspect was eight months shy of her 18th birthday when she participated in the savage 2017 slayings on Long Island — luring members of a rival gang into a wooded area in Central Islip with another female where they were bludgeoned to death.

On Thursday, the US Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s decision to prosecute the woman — identified as “Diablita,” or “Little Devil” in court — as an adult in connection with the murder of Michael Lopez, Justin Llivicura, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos.

Judge Joseph F. Bianco detailed the woman’s conduct in his decision, including, “instigating the murders, along with another juvenile female, by locating photographs of some of the victims flashing MS-13 gang signs on social media (which was viewed as disrespectful because the victims were not members of MS-13), and then showing those photographs to MS-13 members.”

She also “knowingly lured the unsuspecting victims to a prearranged location in the Central Islip woods where they were murdered with machetes, knives and tree limbs,” Judge Bianco said.

Four male MS-13 gang members are already awaiting trial for the quadruple murders — two others have pled guilty and were sentenced to 50 years and 55 years in prison.

Prosecutors alleged the group schemed to have a pair of female associates lure the five suspected rivals from the 18th Street gang to a wooded area.

Josue Portillo, 18, pleaded guilty to stabbing four suspected rival teen gang members and bludgeoning them to death in a municipal park in what prosecutors called a “horrific frenzy of violence.”

Portillo, who was just 15 when he committed the slayings, faced life in prison for the savage murders — but a federal judge went easy on him in June, giving him 55 years.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2020/02/05/man-who-was-supposed-to-testify-against-ms-13-gang-members-found-dead/

Man who was supposed to testify against MS-13 gang members found dead
By Israel Salas-Rodriguez and Kenneth Garger
February 5, 2020 | 6:32pm | Updated

Long Island authorities on Wednesday implied that a man set to testify against MS-13 gang members was killed as a result of criminal-justice reforms requiring prosecutors share witnesses’ identities with defendants.

Nassau County officials, including the police commissioner and county executive, announced the death of 36-year-old Wilmer Maldonado on Wednesday — while also decrying the discovery laws that took effect Jan. 1.

“The system failed, the system failed,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at a press conference.

“This man is dead because we didn’t do enough … and this law is not helping us.”

Maldonado was discovered bludgeoned to death behind an abandoned home in New Cassel on Sunday, according to Nassau County police.

He was allegedly attacked by nine MS-13 members in October 2018 after intervening when the group threatened two boys.

The suspects allegedly beat all three victims, stabbing Maldonado several times and knocking him in the head with a bat, officials said.

Prosecutors last December revealed Maldonado’s identity to an arrested suspect’s defense team as a result of the recently enacted laws compelling the state to turn over the names of witnesses in criminal cases.

Before then, Maldonado’s identity was concealed through a court-issued protective order obtained by prosecutors in December 2018, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

“This case underscores the importance of safeguarding the identities of witnesses and victims of crime and our hearts are with Mr. Maldonado’s family and friends as we grieve his loss,” Singas said in a statement.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said: “These new discovery requirements pose a threat to both the victims and witnesses of crimes.”

Ryder acknowledged that there was no proof defense lawyers handed over witness information to the defendants — who have all been jailed since 2018 — but “what we do know that right after” the information was shared “we started [seeing] that pattern of intimidation,” and ultimately Maldonado’s death.

Police believe Maldonado was killed by associates of the jailed MS-13 gang members.

The day before he was killed, Maldonado was “beaten on,” but escaped from the attack, Ryder said.

On Jan. 30, one of the other victims from the October 2018 attack, was shot at in New Cassel, the commissioner added.

The trial was set to begin on Jan. 6, but did not begin on schedule, according to Ryder.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2020/05/14/ms-13-gang-members-busted-for-subway-killing-two-other-murders/

MS-13 gang members busted for subway execution and two other murders
By Rebecca Rosenberg
May 14, 2020 | 2:06pm | Updated

Juan Amaya-Ramirez


Ten alleged MS-13 gang members were busted in connection with three Queens murders — including an early afternoon assassination on a subway platform and another that was a case of mistaken identity, the feds announced Thursday.

“The murders and crimes of violence allegedly committed by these defendants are trademark MS-13 offenses — cold-blooded, senseless and brutally violent — and pose a grave danger to the residents of our communities,” said Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue in a statement.

Alleged MS-13 member Ramiro Gutierrez and associates Tito Martinez- Alvarenga and Victor Lopez allegedly dragged suspected gang rival Abel Mosso off a No. 7 train onto the platform of the 90th Street Station in Jackson Heights on Feb. 3, 2019, according to court papers.

Gutierrez allegedly shouted in Spanish, “Nobody get involved, we’re MS-13, we’re going to kill him,” then pumped five bullets into Mosso’s head in broad daylight, the indictment charges.

The group believed Mosso, 20, was a member of the rival 18th Street gang, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said in court papers.

A bystander recorded video of the shocking slaying, which was posted on Facebook, authorities said. Gutierrez, Martinez-Alvarenga and Lopez already face murder, gang assault and other charges in Queens Supreme Court for the killing.

In another brazen shooting, MS-13 member Juan Amaya-Ramirez, aka “Cadaver,” and two others allegedly lured 17-year-old Andy Peralta to Kissena Park in Flushing on April 23, 2018.

Peralta had a tattoo of a crown on his chest, which the MS-13 members mistakenly believed was a symbol of the rival Latin Kings gang, prosecutors said.

The trio beat, stabbed and strangled Peralta and slashed the offending tattoo in the middle of a public park, court papers allege.

Amaya-Ramirez used an iPhone to photograph him and his pals posing with Peralta’s mangled corpse as they flashed gang signs, prosecutors said.

The murder of Victor Alvarenga occurred Nov. 4, 2019, on a Queens street. MS-13 members Douglas Melgar-Suriano, Jairo Martinez-Garcia and another associate approached Alvarenga near his home. Melgar-Suriano allegedly repeatedly blasted him in his head and body. As he writhed on the pavement, Martinez-Garcia pumped one more bullet into him, according to court papers.

Alleged MS-13 members Marlon Saracey-Lopez, Ismael Santos-Novoa and Emerson Martinez-Lara are charged with conspiring to murder an MS-13 associate who had failed to kill a rival gang member as ordered. Victor Ramirez is charged with attempting to murder another rival gang member.

The 10 defendants named in four indictments face charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, marijuana distribution and discharging a firearm.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2020/07/10/reputed-ms-13-member-hit-with-charges-over-2012-murder/

Reputed MS-13 gang member hit with charges over 2012 murder
By Priscilla DeGregory
July 10, 2020 | 2:20pm | Updated

A photo shows reputed MS-13 gang member Marcelo Esquivel crouching in the front.


Here’s one sign this guy’s down with MS-13.

A photo of a suspect flashing the notorious criminal organization’s hand signs along with a with a crew of smiling cronies is among the evidence that prosecutors hope will put the powerful reputed gangbanger away for murder.

Marcelo “Profugo” Esquivel, 31, is accused of ordering two other MS-13 gang members — one of whom was new and wanted to earn respect — to kill a member of the rival Latin Kings in 2012, Brooklyn federal court papers allege.

Esquivel allegedly gave a gun to the two members who then allegedly rode together on a bike — one on the seat and one riding the bike pegs — to Latin Kings territory in Queens, the court documents allege.

They allegedly yelled “La Mara” — an apparent reference to La Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 — before shooting Daniel Licona-Gonzalez, the court filings allege. Licona-Gonzalez died from his injuries the following day.

In addition to the photos of Esquivel allegedly paling around with MS-13 members and throwing up gang signs, they also have a picture of an “MS” tattoo on his arm.

Prosecutor Nadia Moore requested in the detention memo that Esquivel — who was arrested late Thursday — remain in custody without bail.

“The defendant committed the charged murder on behalf of MS-13, a violent transnational criminal enterprise whose members and associates have previously been convicted in this District of murder, obstruction of justice, assault and a number of other violent crimes,” Moore wrote in the court papers.

“The defendant’s membership and leadership position within the gang is significant because it demonstrates his proclivity for violence.”

Esquivel faces charges of murder in aid of racketeering and causing death through use of a firearm, and if convicted at trial, faces mandatory life in prison or the death penalty.

During a brief phone and video Brooklyn federal court arraignment Friday, his lawyer Samuel Gregory entered a plea of not guilty on Esquivel’s behalf.

Esquivel will remain in custody as Gregory did not object to Moore’s request for remand.

Gregory declined to comment on the allegations but told The Post his client is an upstanding employee who works in a company installing underground sprinkler systems.

“His boss said he is a fantastic employee and speaks very highly of him. [The boss] says he’s been extremely reliable and has been employed with the company for three years,” Gregory said.

 

[Ensis]

I hate those slit-eyed savages. Even Southern Chinese have much more honor than they.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2020/09/15/ny-state-freed-ms-13-member-facing-federal-murder-charge-sources/

NY released MS-13 gang member facing federal murder charge
By Rebecca Rosenberg and Bruce Golding
September 15, 2020 | 4:09pm | Updated

State prison officials put a reputed MS-13 gang member back on the streets — even though the feds wanted him held on a murder charge that carries the death penalty, The Post has learned.

Ever Morales-Lopez, 26, was granted early parole for a 2018 conspiracy conviction on Long Island and released from the medium-security Washington Correctional Facility in Comstock on Sept. 3, records show.

But a federal arrest warrant for Morales-Lopez had been lodged with National Crime Information Center after he was indicted in July, along with seven other reputed MS-13 members, on racketeering charges that cover six murders, two attempted murders and a kidnapping conspiracy, a law enforcement source familiar with his case said.

The warrant was supposed to ensure he was transferred to federal custody to await trial instead of being sprung, the source said.

A state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson said the agency never received a warrant to hold Morales-Lopez and released him to community supervision in accordance with state law.

The spokesperson didn’t immediately say whether DOCCS actually checked the NCIC database before releasing Morales-Lopez.

Regardless, the FBI didn’t learn he had been cut loose until Sept. 8 — five days after the fact.
Enlarge Image
Ever Morales-Lopez (left)
Ever Morales-Lopez (left)Victor Alcorn

Members of the FBI-Long Island Gang Task Force were able to track him down and bust him within 12 hours, the source said.

State prison officials assisted the FBI in arresting him after being contacted by the bureau, the DOCCS spokesperson said.

Following his arrest, Morales-Lopez was hauled into Central Islip federal court on Thursday and ordered held without bail, based on a judge’s findings that he posed a “serious risk” of flight and “danger to the community,” court records show.

Morales-Lopez — whose nicknames include “White Boy” and “Lenky” — is accused in the murder of Kerin Pineda, a rival gang member who was lured to a secluded, wooded area near the Merrick-Freeport border on May 21, 2016.
Enlarge Image
Kerin Pineda
Kerin PinedaHandout

Morales-Lopez allegedly served as one of three lookouts who kept watch for cops as several MS-13 members used machetes to hack Pineda to death and bury him in a grave that had been dug a day earlier.

One of the charges against him, murder in aid of racketeering, carries either a mandatory life sentence or the death penalty.

Prosecutors haven’t yet decided whether to seek capital punishment.

Prior to his release, Morales-Lopez was serving a sentence of 3½ to 10½ years after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy in Nassau County in 2018.

That conviction followed his arrest with 16 other reputed members and associates of MS-13 on charges that included murder, conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking.
see also
How MS-13 went from wild kids to the most feared street gang in America

The allegations against Morales-Lopez involved conducting reconnaissance in New Jersey to find somewhere without any nearby surveillance cameras to kill a rival gang member, and discussing where to bury the victim’s body and how deep to dig the hole.

Although he wasn’t supposed to be eligible for parole until April 8, records show he was granted a “merit release” that reduces the length of an inmate’s sentence by one-sixth.

The perk is available to prisoners “who have exhibited an acceptable disciplinary history and have achieved significant programmatic benchmarks,” according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Service website.

It’s unclear when he’s due back in court.

Morales-Lopez’s defense lawyer didn’t return a request for comment.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2020/11/06/ms-13-gang-member-charged-with-murder-of-long-island-teen/

MS-13 gang member charged with brutal murder of Long Island teen
By Rebecca Rosenberg
November 6, 2020 | 5:41pm

Javier Castillo, who was allegedly murdered by MS-13 gang members.



An MS-13 gang member was extradited from El Salvador and arraigned Friday in Central Islip federal court on murder charges for the machete slaying of a 15-year-old boy on Long Island in 2016, authorities said.

Eduardo Portillo, 23, was busted in Morazan, El Salvador on Feb. 23, 2019 — more than 2 years after the murder — and extradited to the U.S. Friday morning.

Portillo pleaded not guilty to an 89-count indictment, and the judge ordered him held without bail. He and other gang members lured Javier Castillo to an isolated marsh area along the water in Cow Meadow Park, in Freeport, to smoke marijuana, officials said.

Once there, the group allegedly took turns hacking him to death with a machete then dug a hole and buried him. His body wasn’t recovered until October 2017. Castillo was believed to be a member of the 18th Street gang, a rival of MS-13.

“I hope the extradition of the defendant and his prosecution in a U.S. court will bring some measure of closure to the family of the young victim,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme in a statement.
see also

Cops suspect MS-13 linked to teen slayings on Long Island

Portillo’s arrest came after he was indicted in May 2018 and authorities issued an INTERPOL Red Notice, informing international law enforcement to be on the lookout.

He’s charged — alongside 22 other defendants in the indictment — with racketeering offenses, murder and narcotics trafficking.

The vicious transnational gang is responsible for dozens of mutilated bodies, many of them young teens, left in shallow graves across Long Island.

President Trump has twice visited Long Island to address MS-13 gang violence and met privately with victims’ families.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2020/11/20/feds-seek-death-penalty-against-ms-13-member-charged-in-7-murders/

Feds seek death penalty against MS-13 member charged in 7 murders
By Rebecca Rosenberg
November 20, 2020 | 4:46pm

Jairo Saenz is taken into custody in 2017.
Newsday


The Justice Department has authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against an MS-13 gang leader charged in connection to seven gruesome murders — including the baseball bludgeoning of two teen girls, according to court papers.

Jairo Saenz, also known as Funny, could be executed if convicted of any of the slayings, reveals a new filing in Central Islip federal court.

Saenz, 24, who is the second-in-command of the Brentwood/Central Islip chapter of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside clique, is charged in connection to the Long Island killings of Michael Johnson, Oscar Acosta, Kayla Cuevas, Nisa Mickens, Javier Castillo, Dewann Stacks and Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, according to the indictment.

Best friends Mickens, 15, and Cuevas, 16, were beaten with baseball bats and hacked to death with machetes in Brentwood in a crime so brutal it sparked national outrage.

While in jail, Saenz has allegedly participated in violent attacks on other inmates, assaulted corrections officers and attempted to identify cooperators for retaliation, the filing says.

Prosecutors announced over the summer that they’d also seek the death penalty against Jairo Saenz’s brother, Alexi Saenz, who President Donald Trump called a “bloodthirsty MS-13 leader.”

The vicious transnational gang has left dozens of mutilated bodies buried in shallow graves across Long Island.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2021/01/14/feds-hit-ms-13-board-of-directors-with-terror-charges/

Federal prosecutors hit MS-13 ‘Board of Directors’ with terror charges
By Rebecca Rosenberg and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
January 14, 2021 | 2:16pm | Updated

Federal prosecutors hit Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, an alleged member of the MS-13 "Board of Directors," with terrorism charges.
FBI


Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have hit MS-13’s “board of directors” with terror charges — accusing the leaders of the notorious gang of ordering up scores of murders.

The US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York on Thursday indicted the gang’s leaders for conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

Prosecutors say they’re charging the 14 highest-ranking members of the transnational gang — 11 of whom are already behind bars, mostly in El Salvador.

Federal authorities are seeking to extradite the jailed suspects to the US, sources said.

Three others — Hugo Armando Quinteros-Mineros, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios and Fredy Ivan Jandres-Parada — are the subject of a federal manhunt by the FBI.

Among the jailed suspects is Borromeo Enrique Henriquez, who is known as “Diablito de Hollywood” and is considered one of the gang’s most powerful members, prosecutors said.

The suspects make up the “Ranfla Nacional” — or the gang’s ruling body.

“The FBI is committed to combatting all forms of terrorism that threaten the American people as well as our international partners,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

“Ranfla Nacional” grew out of a hierarchical ruling body of the gang that was formed in 2002 in a Salvadoran prison and was named the “Twelve Apostles of the Devil,” according to the 31-page federal indictment.

Henriquez was among the founding members of the group — with other present-day leaders of the gang also sporting menacing nicknames like “Crook de Hollywood,” “Tigre de Park View,” and “Rata de Leewards,” prosecutors said.

The Ranfla set all rules for gang members throughout the globe, with their approval required before a member could enter the US.

The ruling body also issued “green lights” — an execution order — to eliminate rivals, disloyal gang members, or law enforcement personnel, the indictment said.

For instance, in 2004 the MS-13 leadership ordered a green light to eliminate all members of the gang’s Coronados “clique” because it was feuding with other branches of the gang, prosecutors said.

The Ranfla could also “open the valves,” signaling authority to commit murders, or “close the valves” if the order was rescinded, the feds said.
see also

How MS-13 went from wild kids to the most feared street gang in America

The vicious gang, which has reached around the globe and has long been active locally on Long Island, is responsible for a trail of mutilated bodies.

President Trump has twice visited Long Island to address the gang’s violence and has met privately with the families of MS-13 victims.

The gang grew out of an LA street gang peopled in part by Salvadoran immigrants in the 1980s, and evolved into one of the nation’s most violent criminal organizations.

MS-13 now has tens of thousands of members in more than 200 cliques worldwide, including in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and the US, the indictment said.

They grew so powerful in El Salvador that they influenced the government’s oversight over the Central American nation through bribes, intimidation, and threats — even declaring war on the country’s cops in recent years.

They fund their operations through drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnappings, prosecutors said.

MS-13 members are considered ruthless, with the machete their preferred tool to punish enemies and take revenge on those deemed disloyal.

“MS-13 is responsible for a wave of death and violence that has terrorized communities, leaving neighborhoods on Long Island and throughout the Eastern District of New York in bloodshed,” Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement.

“Even when incarcerated the Ranfla Nacional continued to direct MS-13s global operations, recruit new members, including children, into MS-13 and orchestrate murder and mayhem around the world,” he said.

 

[The Bobster]

Four men arrested after woman’s body found in car trunk in Far Rockaway

https://nypost.com/2021/04/14/four-men-arrested-after-womans-body-found-in-car-in-queens/

Four men arrested after woman’s body found in car trunk in Far Rockaway
By Amanda Woods, Tina Moore and Joe Marino
April 14, 2021 | 8:59am | Updated

Four men were busted as part of a long-term investigation into MS-13 activity in Queens after they were caught stuffing a woman’s body into the trunk of a car, law enforcement sources and police said Wednesday.

Officers spotted the men around 1:50 a.m. walking out of a home on Foam Place near Central Avenue in Far Rockaway, carrying a large, unknown object and putting it into the trunk, police said.

The officers followed the car and stopped it on the Nassau Expressway at Bayview Avenue on Long Island.

That’s when they made the grisly discovery, finding a woman’s body — with severe trauma — in the trunk, according to cops and police sources.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The men were taken into custody, and it wasn’t immediately clear what charges they could face.

The home on Foam Place had been under surveillance by Homeland Security Investigations for alleged ties to MS-13, the source said.

“Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York, working with the NYPD and our law enforcement partners, made several arrests this morning pursuant to a long-term investigation into certain acts of violence in the Queens, New York area,” an HSI spokeswoman said Wednesday. “This case is ongoing and there is no further information at this time.”

The city medical examiner’s office will determine the woman’s cause of death.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2021/04/16/4-charged-in-connection-to-woman-found-in-queens-trunk-cops/

4 charged after woman’s body found in trunk during Queens MS-13 probe
By Amanda Woods
April 16, 2021 | 12:05pm | Updated

Four men — including a suspected MS-13 member — have been charged in connection with the death of a Queens woman whose body was discovered wrapped in a bag in the trunk of a car, according to authorities.

The grisly case is part of a long-term probe into the notorious gang’s activity in the borough, according to cops and police sources.

Allan Lopez, 22 — identified as the MS-13 member — and cohorts Jose Sarmiento, 21, and Rigel Yohairo, 20, were arrested Thursday and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the death of Nazareth Claure, 31, authorities said. Lopez also faces a drug-possession charge.

Rodolfo Lopez, 26, was charged with concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to cops.

Officers spotted the men around 1:50 a.m. Wednesday walking out of a home on Foam Place near Central Avenue in Far Rockaway carrying a large, unknown object and putting it into the trunk, police said.

The officers followed the car and stopped it on the Nassau Expressway at Bayview Avenue on Long Island.

That’s when they made the discovery of a woman’s body — with severe trauma — in the trunk, according to cops and police sources.

The woman, later identified as Claure, was pronounced dead on scene.

The home on Foam Place had been under surveillance by Homeland Security Investigations for alleged ties to MS-13, a police source said.

A spokeswoman for Homeland Security Investigations New York confirmed Wednesday that the arrests were “pursuant to a long-term investigation into certain acts of violence in the Queens, New York area.”

 

[The Bobster]

MS-13’s ‘Little Devil’ to stand NY trial in brutal 2017 slayings

In a December 2019 ruling, US Circuit Judge Joseph Bianco alleged Escobar “knowingly lured the unsuspecting victims to a prearranged location in the Central Islip woods where they were murder…

nypost.com

MS-13’s ‘Little Devil’ to stand NY trial in brutal 2017 slayings​

By
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon


March 20, 2022 1:59pm
Updated

The four victims of a MS-13 connected quadruple homicide in Central Islip Long Island that occurred on April 13, 2017. Facebook

​

A female MS-13 gang member known as “Little Devil” will face trial Monday on charges she helped lure five young men into a savage 2017 ambush that left four of them dead.
Leniz Escobar, nicknamed “Diablita,” is charged with coaxing the unsuspecting victims — Michael Lopez, Justin Llivicura, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos — into a wooded area in Central Islip, where they were beaten and hacked to death by MS-13 gangsters.
Their mangled bodies were discovered near a soccer field in a Central Islip park on April 12, 2017.
A fifth victim escaped the massacre.
In a December 2019 ruling, US Circuit Judge Joseph Bianco alleged Escobar “knowingly lured the unsuspecting victims to a prearranged location in the Central Islip woods where they were murdered with machetes, knives and tree limbs.”
The judge said Escobar, who was 17 at the time, was suspected of “instigating the murders, along with another juvenile female, by locating photographs of some of the victims flashing MS-13 gang signs on social media … and then showing those photographs to MS-13 members.”
Federal prosecutors called the attack “a horrific frenzy of violence” in court papers.
“Additionally, Escobar discarded the bloody clothing that she had been wearing on the night of the murders,” the court filing said.
Police set up a crime scene at a park in Central Islip, Long Island where four mutilated bodies of young men were found on April 13, 2017.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
They claim Escobar was an associate of MS-13 who was trying to curry favor with the gang by luring the young men to their deaths. It’s unclear whether the victims were rival gang members or just MS-13 wannabes.
Four other MS-13 members also accused of carrying out the fatal attack are awaiting trial, while two others have been sentenced to 50 and 55 years in prison.
One of them, Jorge Portillo, who was just 15 at the time of the killing spree, pleaded guilty to charges of murder, racketeering and conspiracy in 2019.
The casket of Justin Llivicura — one of four young men found slain in a suspected MS-13 gang killing, is carried from St. Joseph the Worker Church after Llivicura’s funeral Wednesday, April 19, 2017.AP Photo/Frank Eltman, File
Escobar has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. She will be tried as an adult in federal court in Central Islip. Prosecutors said the trial is expected to take three to four weeks.
Her attorney, Jesse Siegel, told the Associated Press that “after almost five years, Ms. Escobar is looking forward to having her day in court.”
MS-13, a notoriously vicious gang also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, was founded by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It has since grown into a global criminal enterprise — with a stronghold in Long Island.

 

[The Bobster]

Sole survivor of MS-13 massacre belonged to ruthless gang: lawyer

Key witness Elmer Alexander Arteaga Ruiz admitted to a cop that he was in MS-13 less than a month before the 2017 massacre that killed four young men.

nypost.com

Sole survivor of MS-13 massacre belonged to ruthless gang: lawyer​

By
Kevin Sheehan and

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon


March 22, 2022 1:57pm
Updated









Families of victims attend federal murder trial of MS-13 "Little Devil"






The sole survivor of a deadly Long Island ambush by MS-13 was a member of the vicious gang — and went home to sleep after his four pals were butchered, defense lawyers said in court Tuesday.
Elmer Alexander Arteaga Ruiz, the key witness in the federal murder trial of alleged slay conspirator Leniz “Little Devil” Escobar, said under cross-examination that he never bothered to call cops or notify anyone right after he fled the 2017 massacre in a Central Islip park — adding that he was unaware everyone else with him was being fatally bludgeoned.

“After you escaped, you didn’t know if your friends were injured or neeed help?” asked defense lawyer Jesse Siegel.

“I didn’t know aything about them,” Ruiz replied.”You went home?” Siegel said.
“Yes,” Ruiz answered.
“To sleep?” Siegel said.
Ruiz responded, “Well, that perhaps may sound cowardly, but my mind was tormented, and all I wanted to do was go to bed and be home safe.”
He told Siegel he went to work at his landscaping job the next day — and a police witness has said Ruiz later led cops to the grisly scene that day.
Siegel also claimed in court Tuesday that Ruiz admitted to a cop he was an MS-13 member less than a month before the massacre that killed four young men.
In a bizarre courtroom exchange, Ruiz, 22, denied he ever told the cop he was a member during his March 15, 2017, marijuana bust — although the conversation is referred to in a police report.
“[The officer] asked you a lot of questions about your MS-13 affiliation,” Siegel said to Ruiz.
Ruiz responded, “I’ll be candid.
The victims of the MS-13-connected quadruple homicide in Central Islip, Long Island.
“[The cop] said, ‘Donald Trump doesn’t want you guys here, so I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get you out of here.’ “
Then-President Trump traveled to Long Island in July 2017 to rail against street gangs, specifically ultra-violent MS-13, noting the quadruple murder of Ruiz’s buddies a few months before.
Siegel said, “[The officer] asked you about MS-13?”
Ruiz replied, “No, the only thing he said to me was about Donald Trump.
Leniz Escobar, a.k.a. “Diablita” or “Little Devil.”United States Attorney’s Offi
“[Ambush victim] Michael [Lopez] could understand him, and he told me,” said Ruiz, indicating Lopez helped translate the cop’s comments from English to Spanish for him.
But Siegel introduced a Facebook Messenger exchange between Ruiz and some of the eventual victims of the April 11, 2017, attack, instructing them how to join MS-13.
“I’m down,” ambush victim Jorge Tigre wrote at one point. “I’ll do it.”
Ruiz identified himself during the online exchange as “Alexander,” followed by the MS-13 hand sign and the number 13.
Escobar, 22, an MS-13 hanger-on, is accused of luring Ruiz and his friends to their deaths to curry favor with the gang.
In his testimony Monday, Ruiz said Escobar and another teen invited the witness and his friends to smoke marijuana at the park when they were set upon by “eight or nine” members of MS-13.
Ruiz fled, while his four pals were butchered with machetes, knives, an ax and even tree limbs, according to police.
Killed in the attack were Lopez, 20, Tigre, 18, and Jefferson Villalobos, 18, and 16-year-old Justin Llivicura, authorities said.
The area inside a Central Islip park where Escobar allegedly lured the teens to their deaths by the MS-13 gang.Dennis A. Clark
In other testimony Tuesday, Suffolk County Homicide Detective Jeffrey Bottari described the bloody carnage at the Long Island park.
“I’ve seen the unimaginable, or so I thought until I saw this,” Bottari said.
He said investigators found “two very large blood pools,” along with “brain matter, pieces of human skull, skull fractures, drag marks, a trail of blood.
“Blood droplets on the fence where people had tried to escape,” he testified. “The bodies were dragged across the asphalt pathway.”
Escobar’s trial began Monday and is expected to last three to four weeks.

 

[The Bobster]

How a New York sheriff is driving down MS-13’s gang presence in Suffolk County

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. is widely credited with stalling the growth of MS-13 on Long Island — but doing so is apparently pushing the violent gang deeper into an NYC borough.

nypost.com

How a New York sheriff is driving down MS-13’s gang presence in Suffolk County​

By
Isabel Vincent


March 29, 2022 5:03pm
Updated

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon has made strides to combat the influx of MS-13 on Long Island, including traveling to South America to learn about its activities first-hand. NY Post photo composite

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Five years after Donald Trump vowed to end the brutal reign of MS-13 on Long Island, NY, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. is doing just that. But it’s also, apparently, pushing one of the country’s most violent gangs deeper into a borough of New York City.
Toulon, the first African American elected to the post, is widely credited with stalling the growth of the gang, which for years had a stronghold in the region.
“Information sharing is what’s really helping us to drive down MS-13,” Toulon told The Post.
Exchanging data on jailed gang members in the Yaphank and Riverhead correctional facilities with local police departments and prosecutors has led to the arrests of dozens of the machete-wielding thugs since he took office in 2018, Toulon said.
And he’s continued to allow federal agents of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have offices in county jails, a controversial practice set up by his predecessor, Vincent DeMarco, in 2016.
Toulon, now in his second term, was a Democratic candidate for sheriff in 2017 when Trump railed against the blood-thirsty gang in a speech at Suffolk Community College in July 2017.
Errol Toulon is the first African American elected as sheriff in Suffolk County and is widely credited with stalling the growth of MS-13, which for years had a murderous stronghold in the region.Stephen Yang
And Toulon took those words to heart.
“We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you and we will deport you,” the former president said, just three months after MS-13 goons savagely massacred four high-school friends in Central Islip.
The victims— Justin Llivicura, 16, Michael Lopez Banegas, 20, Jorge Tigre, 18, and Jefferson Villalobos, 18 — were not involved with MS-13 but pretended to be, flashing the gang’s signs in social media photos to attract women.
Leniz Escober, a 17-year-old known as “Diablita” (the Little Devil) sought to curry favor with the gang by ratting out non-members who adopted MS-13 signs and symbols — and has now been charged with murder.SMoore-Glasgow
They were allegedly lured to their deaths by Leniz Escober, a 17-year-old known as “Diablita” (the Little Devil) who sought to curry favor with the gang and had tipped them off to what the friends were doing, prosecutors charge.
She’s now on trial for murder.
“One of the ways this case was broken was the monitoring of Escobar’s phone calls with her boyfriend, who was on the inside,” Toulon told The Post, noting that Escobar’s boyfriend was an MS-13 gang member in a Suffolk County jail.
Toulon works closely with Suffolk County’s Undersheriff Kevin Catalina, a former NYPD deputy chief and commanding officer of the department’s Intelligence Bureau.Stephen Yang
“We are constantly monitoring data, interviewing inmates and sharing that data with our law enforcement partners.”
He said working with ICE and focusing on gathering intel has resulted in more MS-13 inmates in Suffolk County jails.
“When I started, MS-13 was the No. 4 leading gang in our facilities,” he said. “Now it’s No. 2,” with 23 members being held.
Justin Llivicura, 16, Michael Lopez Banegas, 20, Jorge Tigre, 18, and Jefferson Villalobos, 18 were not involved with MS-13 but pretended to be to attract women.
But Toulon’s decision to partner with ICE angered some Democrats and civil liberty advocates, who were concerned he would go back to demanding that federal immigration agents obtain warrants — a time-consuming task — if they wanted to detain an inmate set to be released by the county.
“The assumption was that Errol was going to end the detainer requests, and require ICE to go through the lengthy process of getting a warrant,” said Curtis Sliwa, a gang expert and Republican who ran for New York City mayor last year. “He said, ‘ICE is going to be in my jails so they can deal with MS-13 directly.’ That sent shockwaves throughout Long Island.”
The result is that many MS-13 members have moved out of Suffolk County and into Queens, Sliwa told The Post.
The four young men were allegedly murdered by members of MS-13.Getty Images
He said that when the NYPD tried to adopt the same measures and reached out to ICE in Queens, they were “immediately chastised.” Mayor Adams has “ordered all the local city agencies to have no involvement with ICE at all, which is too bad because ICE has the resources to track the gangs,” Sliwa said.
Toulon said he works closely with Suffolk County’s Undersheriff Kevin Catalina, a former NYPD deputy chief and commanding officer of the department’s Intelligence Bureau who joined Toulon’s staff in August 2018.
“For a long time in Suffolk County MS-13 operated with impunity,” Catalina, 54, told The Post. “After Trump and others put a spotlight on the issue, law enforcement hasn’t let up.”
Toulon’s overall goal is to build a countrywide network for sharing intelligence on jailed MS-13 members, which would allow him and Catalina to track gang connections between Suffolk County, LA and DC. Stephen Yang
Shortly after taking over as sheriff, Toulon traveled to El Salvador to consult with law enforcement on the gang, which started in Los Angeles in the 1970s among Salvadoran migrants and now has cells throughout the US. It was, he said, an eye-opening trip.
“I really got a better understanding,” he explained.
Toulon was shocked to learn that 78 Salvadoran cops had been killed in the first four months of 2018 by MS-13. He also learned that gang members practice torture in order to send a message to their rivals to stay off their turf.
“What we were able to do was establish a good relationship with them,” Toulon said, “and confer with them about what we were finding in Suffolk County.”
Toulon and Catalina credit former President Donald Trump for bringing MS-13 into the spotlight.REUTERS
He had plans to travel to other Central American countries to forge similar alliances, but the COVID pandemic prevented him from leaving the country. He is now re-scheduling those trips.
Toulon’s overall goal is to build a countrywide network for sharing intelligence on jailed MS-13 members, which would allow him and Catalina to track gang connections between Suffolk County, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
For Toulon, it’s all part of the promise he made to his constituents when he first ran for office in 2017: “We won’t back down when it comes to keeping this community safe.”

 

[The Bobster]

MS-13 Diablita ‘licked the blood off her lips’ during LI massacre: prosecutor

Leniz “Diablita” Escobar, 22, lured the men to their deaths in a local park after convincing the notoriously vicious gang that the victims “had mocked them” by using MS-13 s…

nypost.com

MS-13 Diablita ‘licked the blood off her lips’ during LI massacre: prosecutor​

By
Kevin Sheehan and

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon


April 6, 2022 1:37pm
Updated









Defense attorney Jesse Siegel after MS-13 Diablita's summation



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Long Island’s “Little Devil” smiled as MS-13 gang members hacked four men to death with machetes — and even “licked the blood off her lips” during the massacre, prosecutors said Wednesday in closing arguments at her murder trial.
Leniz “Diablita” Escobar, 22, lured the men to their deaths in a local park after convincing the notoriously vicious gang that the victims “had mocked them” by using MS-13 symbols, prosecutor Justina Geraci said in federal court in Central Islip.
“You heard [MS-13 gang member] David Gaitan-Rivera’s testimony,” Geraci told the jury of the 2017 slayings. “He told you how one of the victims had reached for [Escobar] before he was killed and his blood had gotten all over her shirt.
Leniz “Diablita” Escobar lured four men to their deaths in a local park after convincing MS-13 members that the victims “had mocked them.”United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York
“He told you how she licked the blood off her lips.”
Another witness, Escobar’s friend Keyli Gomez, had testified about “how she and the defendant had crouched down by the victims and watched as they were killed. Not screaming or crying while the victims were macheted to death.
“And how just before [victim] Michael Lopez was hacked to death, how she smiled,” Geraci said.
The victims (from left): Justin Llivicura, Jefferson Villalobos, Michael Lopez Banega and Jorge Tigre. The victims were allegedly hacked to death with machetes wielded by the MS-13 members.Spencer Platt/Getty Images Prosecutors say the men were targeted for execution by MS-13 after several of them posted photos online throwing gang signs.Dennis A. Clark Leniz Escobar and Keyli Gomez allegedly lured the men to a park to smoke marijuana, as a group of MS-13 members waited to ambush them.Dennis A. Clark Friends and family of Leniz Escobar, a.k.a. “Diablita” or “Little Devil,” leave federal court in Central Islip, NY.Dennis A. Clark Leniz Escobar in a selfie.Dennis A. Clark
Escobar continued to smile and joke around with her defense team during the prosecutor’s chilling summation. She wore her hair in a ponytail and had bright chrome piercings protruding from her cheeks.
Prosecutors say Lopez, 20, and three pals — Justin Llivicura, 16, Jorge Tigre, 18, and Jefferson Villalobos, 18 — were executed by MS-13 after several of them posted photos online throwing gang signs, a feeble effort to attract girls.
Keyli Gomez testified that “she and [Leniz Escobar] had crouched down by the victims and watched as they were killed.”EDNY
Escobar and Gomez allegedly lured them to the Central Islip park to smoke marijuana, as a mob of MS-13 gangsters waited to ambush them.
Only one of the intended victims, Elmer Alexander Arteaga Ruiz, made it out alive by running for his life — and lived to testify against Escobar.
“Alex was a poser and that’s why he was marked for death,” Geraci said of Ruiz. “He thought this stuff would attract girls and it did — but not in the way he had hoped.”
Others testifying in the trial included Escobar’s boyfriend, an MS-13 gang member, who said his then-17-year-old girlfriend told the gang “they were being overrun by ‘chivales’ [rivals] and they had no balls,” Geraci said.
Prosecutors also presented recorded phone calls Escobar had with her boyfriend, calling them “devastating” to her claim that she was innocent.
“She was telling her boyfriend exactly what happened,” Assistant US Attorney Paul Scotti told jurors. “She told him she killed those four young men and she was happy about it. She was happy.”
Escobar’s lawyers have claimed at the trial that she did not know the victims would be attacked.
During his closing argument, defense attorney Jesse Siegel said his client wasn’t an MS-13 member or associate — she only dated one of the gangsters.
“Not every girlfriend is an associate,” Siegel told jurors. “Her boyfriend was a homeboy.
“She was there. She certainly didn’t prevent it from happening,” he said. “The issue is if she knew something was going to happen.”
Siegel then stumbled, telling the jury, “you should find her guilty, excuse me, you should find her not guilty.”
Outside the courthouse, Siegel said the jury — which is due to start deliberations Thursday morning — should ignore the claims of gang members who cut deals to testify against Escobar.
“The jury should not rely on the witnesses that the government put forward, meaning these cooperating witnesses who are all extremely bad people who are testifying pursuant to cooperation agreements,” he said.
“She had always wanted to have her day in court,” Siegel added. “I think she’s satisfied that she’s had her day in court. And she is nervous, but looking forward to getting a verdict.”
Escobar also had defenders among the audience in the courtroom.
“She had a very difficult life since she was very young,” her cousin, Cindy Escobar, told reporters outside the courtroom. “[She] didn’t have a father. Didn’t have a mother. Didn’t have a stable childhood. So, we can see. You guys have a totally different picture.
“But we know that God is with her and God has her in her hands.”

 

[The Bobster]

MS-13 gang member faces life in prison after pleading guilty to killing 3 men on LI

Jhonny Contreras, 28, now faces a life sentence in connection to the slayings, which took place in 2013 and 2015.

nypost.com

MS-13 gang member faces life in prison after pleading guilty to killing 3 men on LI​

By
Jack Hobbs


May 18, 2022 6:52pm
Updated

MS-13 member Jhonny Contreras faces a life sentence after pleading guilty to killing three men on Long Island. US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York

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An MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering three men on Long Island — including one he lured to a baseball field before savagely beating and stabbing him to death.
Jhonny Contreras, 28, now faces a life sentence in connection to the slayings, which took place in 2013 and 2015 with Contreras believing his victims were members of rival gangs, federal prosecutors said.
Contreras admitted that he and other members of the bloodthirsty gang murdered two men — Keenan Russell and Derrick Mayes — in 2013, thinking they were both Bloods gang members.
According to Contreras, he and another MS-13 member armed themselves with a .25 caliber handgun and 20-gauge shotgun and used a stolen minivan — which was later wiped down and torched — to drive around and look for rival gang members to kill.
He also copped to his involvement in the 2015 killing of Cesar Rivera-Vasquez, whom he lured to a baseball field under the pretense of smoking marijuana.
Rivera-Vasquez was forced to remove his shirt so others could identify his gang tattoo — before he was beaten and stabbed several times.
His body, buried under a large mound of dirt, was only discovered in April 2018.
Eastern District of New York Attorney Breon Peace said Contreras’ guilty plea “demonstrated a total disregard for human life.”KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
Contreras was charged with racketeering and related firearms charges for the trio of murders.
“With today’s guilty plea, the defendant has admitted to participating in a murderous rampage that was senseless and demonstrated a total disregard for human life by hunting down victims based on an offending article of clothing or a tattoo,” said US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement.
“His heinous acts were motivated by a twisted desire to increase his status within the MS-13 gang,” Peace said. “This case underscores the resolve of this Office and the Long Island Gang Task Force to bring the MS-13 to justice for their crimes against our communities.”