11 MS-13 Members Charged In Murder Of Queens Mother: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — Almost a dozen members of the gang MS-13 were charged on Tuesday, in connection with the murder of a 31-year-old mother in Far Rockaway, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Prosecutors said that 11 members of the violent transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, faced numerous racketeering charges in connection with the murder of Nazareth Claire.

The charges followed a superseding indictment that was unsealed in federal court in Central Islip on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

They include: racketeering conspiracy; including predicate racketeering acts involving murder; attempted murder; conspiracy to commit murder; robbery, witness tampering and witness retaliation, and related narcotics and firearms offenses, officials said.

Three of the defendants — Onan Garcia-Lopez, 20, of Long Island, also known as “Demente,” David Alberto Orantez-Gonzalez, 24, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Carlos Rodriguez-Gonzalez” and “Casper,” and Carlos Torres-Alfaro, 20, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Solitario,” — were arrested and arraigned on Monday by United States Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke, officials said.

The other eight defendants were already in federal and state custody and will be arraigned at a later date, prosecutors said. According to officials, they include:

• Billy Ayala-Pineda, 31, of Long Island, also known as “Berdugo”
• Wilian Estiven Sanchez-Perez, 21, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Maniako”
• Anander Henriquez-Avila, 29, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Cara Papa” or “El Papa”
• Allan Lopez-Villeda, 23, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Serio” or “Casper”
• Carlos Ramirez-Portillo, 21, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Chino” and “Siniestro”
• Jose Sarmiento-Valeriano, 22, of Long Island, also known as “David”
• Henry Vasquez-Padilla, 26, of Far Rockaway, also known as “Trece”
• Rigel Yohario Velasquez-Mancia, 21 of Far Rockaway, also known as “E”

In the early morning hours of April 13, 2021, Lopez-Villeda, Sarmiento-Valeriano, and Velasquez-Mancia were pulled over during a car stop by the New York Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations in Far Rockaway, officials said.

Law enforcement discovered Claure’s body in the trunk of the car wrapped in trash bags, officials said. She was believed to have been murdered on or around April 11, 2021, prosecutors said.

“As alleged, the savagery and brutality of the crimes committed by some of the individuals named in the indictment is beyond comprehension and involves the murder of young woman, who was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in the trunk of a car like an object instead of a young mother and human being,” said Homeland Security Investigations, Acting Special
Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel.

Ayala-Pineda, who was charged in the underlying indictment and arrested on December 15, 2021, was the highest-ranking member, or “First Word”, of the Surenos Locos Salvatruchas, or SLS, clique operating in Queens and Long Island, New York and a leader of the Los Angeles Program operating in the United States, officials said.

He directed the SLS clique’s drug trafficking activity, acts of violence committed against rival gang members and against members and associates of the gang deemed to have been disloyal, and the SLS clique’s acquisition of firearms, officials said.

The other 10 charged all were members and associates of MS-13 and involved in trafficking narcotics and committing acts of violence in furtherance of the gang’s objectives in conjunction with the SLS clique, officials said.

“Today’s superseding indictment and arrests send a clear message that violent gang members who commit such deplorable and cowardly crimes against humanity will be tracked down and held accountable for their actions," said Patel.