MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty In Connection To Murder: U.S. Attorney

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY - An MS-13 gang member plead guilty on Monday to charges in connection to an attempted murder of a suspected rival gang member outside the Brentwood public library and the murder of fellow gang member Jose Pena for violating the gang's rules, according to the U.S. attorney.

Carlos Argueta, also known as "Violento," "Desorden" and "Dylan," the former leader of the Freeport Locos Salvatruchas clique of MS-13, plead guilty to racketeering and firearms charges at the federal courthouse in Central Islip before U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco.

According to court records, in January 2016, Argueta and several other MS-13 members confronted three suspected rival gang members outside the Brentwood library.

During the confrontation, Argueta removed a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun from his waistband and shot one of the men in the torso.

The group then fled the scene while the wounded man received medical treatment and survived.

Argueta, Pena and a third MS-13 member were later arrested in connection with the attempted murder of the man and were released on bail.

Following their release, Argueta demanded to see the other two MS-13 members’ arrest paperwork in connection with the shooting.

Argueta then informed other members of the Freeport clique that he suspected that Pena, a member of the Normandie clique of the MS-13, had cooperated with police.

In addition, several gang members suspected that Pena was homosexual, which is unacceptable under the rules of the MS-13.

After consulting with MS-13 leaders in El Salvador, Argueta and other MS-13 members agreed to kill Pena.

Photo credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York

Argueta assigned tasks to other MS-13 gang members including getting weapons and a getaway car to be used in the murder.

Then in June 2016, Argueta and the other members lured Pena into a car and drove to a secluded wooded area in Brentwood.

After walking into the woods the group attacked Pena, taking turns stabbing and slashing him with knives, and killed him.

Pena’s body was found over four months later.

"The twisted code the members and leadership of the MS-13 adhere to doesn't make sense to anyone outside of the gang," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said. "They brutally take the lives of people because they didn’t follow the rules. There is no world where those thought processes and behaviors are okay."

In September 2016 Argueta, who was 16 years old at the time, was arrested by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force and charged as a juvenile.

The government then filed a motion to transfer Argueta to adult status for prosecution.

In September 2017 Judge Bianco granted the motion and ordered that Argueta be prosecuted as an adult.

Argueta appealed and in December 2018 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Bianco’s decision.

When sentenced, the 20-year-old Brentwood resident faces a maximum of life in prison.

After completing his sentence, Argueta, an illegal alien from El Salvador, faces deportation from the United States.

"This guilty plea ensures that another member of MS-13 will face up to life in prison for killing a member of his own gang and attempting to murder a suspected rival gang member—two cases that are a reminder of the heinous nature of this transnational gang," Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart.