MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty To Murders Of 2 Men: Feds

BRENTWOOD, NY — A member of the deadly MS-13 street gang pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to his role in two separate 2016 murders, according to prosecutors.

Jonathan Hernandez, 24, of Brentwood, a member of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside (Sailors) clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, a transnational criminal organization, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection with his participation in the January 28, 2016 murder of Michael Johnson, the April 29, 2016 murder of Oscar Acosta, an attempted murder on August 10, 2016, and a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, according to Judge Anne Y. Shields.

“In service to a violent gang and without regard for human life, the defendant and his MS-13 cohorts murdered two people, attempted to murder a third victim, and distributed dangerous narcotics,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “It is our hope that the families of the victims find some consolation that Hernandez has been held to account for his crimes.”

According to prior court filings and statements by Hernandez, on January 28, 2016, a Sailors clique leader and other MS-13 members and associates saw 29-year-old Michael Johnson at the Jocorena Deli in Brentwood. They claimed to recognize him as a member of the rival Bloods street gang, officials said.

Johnson was marked as their “food,” meaning they were going to kill him, prosecutors said. After receiving approval from the New York leader of the Sailors clique, Hernandez and several other MS-13 members were informed of the plan to kill Johnson, officials said.

Johnson was lured to a secluded meeting location where MS-13 members and associates, including Hernandez, struck Johnson with a baseball bat, stabbed him with a knife, and took turns hacking him with a machete, prosecutors said. His body was recovered by the Suffolk County Police Department on February 2, 2016.

In early 2016, prosecutors said Hernandez and his fellow Sailors clique members decided to kill 19-year-old Acosta, because they suspected that he was associating with the rival 18th Street gang, feds said. The Sailors clique leader assigned roles regarding which members would take the lead in planning and carrying out the murder, prosecutors said.

On April 29, 2016, several MS-13 members encountered Acosta in a wooded area near an elementary school in Brentwood, where he had been lured under the guise of smoking marijuana, prosecutors said.

They beat Acosta with tree limbs, knocking him unconscious, prosecutors said. Gang members then bound Acosta’s hands and feet, wrapped an article of clothing around his mouth to prevent him from making noise, and summoned other MS-13 members, including Hernandez, officials said.

They then loaded Acosta into the trunk of a car and drove to a more secluded area in Brentwood, near an abandoned psychiatric hospital, officials said. The gang took Acosta, who was still alive, out of the car and carried him into the woods, where they all took turns hacking him to death with a machete, prosecutors said.

The MS-13 members then buried Acosta’s body in a shallow grave, prosecutors said. Acosta’s body was discovered by law enforcement on September 16, 2016.

“It is evident by these incomprehensible crimes, that MS-13 members have zero regard for human life and their violence has no limits,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.

On August 10, 2016, Hernandez and other MS-13 members attempted to kill suspected rival gang members in Brentwood, officials said. He and another gang member, both armed with handguns, approached a house on Lukens Avenue, where the suspected rival gang members were standing outside, and fired numerous shots in their direction, prosecutors said.

No one was struck, but a stray bullet entered a neighbor’s house and struck the headboard of a bed in which the neighbor was sleeping, prosecutors said.

Hernandez also pleaded guilty to participating in a drug distribution conspiracy, admitting that between April 2016 and October 2017, he and other members of the Sailors clique conspired to distribute cocaine and marijuana for the financial benefit of the MS-13, feds said.

When sentenced, Hernandez faces a maximum term of life in prison.

“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to decimate this transnational gang and I thank those involved in this case for their tireless efforts to hold this individual accountable for his heinous actions," said Harrison.

When sentenced, Contreras faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, officials said.
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.