MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty To Role In Retaliation Murder

BRENTWOOD, NY - An MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges related to the 2014 murder of Jose Lainez-Murica, who was shot and killed while sitting in his car outside his Brentwood home, according to the U.S. Attorney.

In June 2014, Edwin Amaya-Sanchez, 20, and two other MS-13 members orchestrated the murder of Lainez-Murcia because they suspected he was an assassin who had killed MS-13 members in El Salvador, the U.S. attorney said.

Amaya-Sanchez knew where Lainez-Murcia lived, what car he drove, and what time he left for work in the morning because they used to work together so Amaya-Sanchez drove the other gang members, all armed with a 9mm handgun, to Lainez-Murcia’s neighborhood and dropped them off, according to the U.S. attorney.

When Lainez-Murcia left the house and entered his car, the MS-13 members approached and fired multiple times with the 9mm handguns, killing him, the U.S. attorney said.

The two MS-13 members ran down the block where Amaya-Sanchez picked them up and drove away.

Related:

• Police ID 13 Gang Members Charged In Seven Brentwood Murders
• MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty To Murder Of Fellow Gang Member
• More Than 30 MS-13 Gang Members Arrested For Brentwood Slayings: Police

“MS-13 believes it can operate with its own form of vigilante justice, without any repercussions,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “The FBI Long Island Gang Task Force won't allow them to continue terrorizing the community, acting outside of the law.”

Amaya-Sanchez, an illegal alien from El Salvador who previously was deported from the United States and illegally returned, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life in prison, the U.S. attorney said.

He will be sentenced by Judge Joseph Bianco on October 17, 2018.

After completing his sentence, he faces deportation from the United States.

“The Suffolk County Police Department is committed to working with our law enforcement partners in bringing criminal gang members and their associates to justice,” SCPD Acting Commissioner Stuart Cameron. “This guilty plea of a murderer will send a strong message to gangs across Long Island that illegal activities will not be tolerated.”