MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty To Role In 4 2017 Murders: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A member of the deadly MS-13 street gang pleaded guilty to the 2017 murders of four young men in federal court Friday, according to prosecutors.

Anderson Sanchez, 22, a member of the Leeward Locos Salvatruchas clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the transnational gang MS-13, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection with his participation in the murders of 16-year-old Justin Llivicura, 20-year-old Michael Lopez, 18-year-old Jorge Tigre, and 18-year-old Jefferson Villalobos, according to Breon Peace, acting United States attorney for the eastern district of New York.

According to prior court filings and Sanchez's statements during the plea proceeding, on the evening of April 11, 2017, two female associates of the MS-13 lured five young men, including the four killed, to a community park in Central Islip. The MS-13 members and associates believed the four were members of a rival gang who had disrespected the MS-13, feds said.

Sanchez and several other MS-13 members met in a wooded area behind the park where weapons were distributed, prosecutors said. When the girls arrived at the park with the four killed, officials said, they sent the MS-13 members a text message notifying them of their arrival, feds said.

Sanchez and the other gang members then proceeded to the designated location and encircled the victims under the cover of darkness, feds sad. One of the intended victims immediately fled and was able to escape, prosecutors said.

Llivicura, Lopez, Tigre and Villalobos were surrounded by Sanchez and others, who prevented their escape, officials said. Other MS-13 members, armed with machetes, knives, and wooden clubs then led the victims deeper into the woods where they were brutally murdered, feds said.

After the attack, the MS-13 members dragged the victims’ bodies to a more secluded spot in the woods and then fled, officials said. The victims’ bodies were discovered the following evening.

When sentenced, Sanchez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Upon completion of his sentence, he faces deportation from the United States. More than a dozen MS-13 members and associates have been charged in connection with the April 11 murders.

MS-13's presence has existed on Long Island for more than two decades and has roots in Los Angeles and Central America. Between January 2016 and July 2017, at least 17 people were murdered by the gang, according to The New York Times.

Tigre's sister Monica Tigre, in a 2017 interview with Patch, declined to discuss what may have led to her brother's murder, but said she and her family are left with only memories.

"The only thing I can said he was a wonderful person. He was always smiling and helping my family and me. I will remember him — his smile and his kindness," Tigre said.