MS-13 Member Who Lured 4 To Their Deaths Found Guilty: Feds

BRENTWOOD, NY — A former MS-13 gang member who police said lured four young men to be murdered in April 2017 has been found guilty, prosecutors announced on Monday.

Leniz “Diablita”Escobar, 22, of Islip Terrace, member of the Leeward Locos Salvatruchas clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the transnational gang MS-13,was convicted by a jury of racketeering, including predicate acts of murder, conspiracy to murder rival gang members, and obstruction of justice; and murder in aid-of racketeering, in connection with her participation in the April 11, 2017 murders of Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos, prosecutors said.

The verdict followed a four-week trial before United States Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco. When sentenced, Escobar faces up to life in prison, officials said.

On the evening of April 11, 2017, Escobar and a co-conspirator, Keyli Gomez, lured five young men to a park in Central Islip where they were attacked by members of the MS-13, prosecutors said.

The MS-13 members believed the victims to be members of a rival gang. At least two of the men had disrespected the MS-13 by posting photos on social media in which they wore certain items and flashed hand signs that signified membership in the MS-13 gang, prosecutors said.

Escobar and Gomez showed the gang-related photos to members of the MS-13, who confirmed the young men did not belong to MS-13, and it was decided that the victims would be killed, prosecutors said.

Gomez testified at the trial that she and Escobar drove with the victims to the park, led them to a predetermined wooded area, and sent the MS-13 members text-messages notifying them of their arrival.

One of the intended victims immediately fled and was able to escape, prosecutors said.

Llivicura, Lopez, Tigre and Villalobos were then attacked and murdered with machetes, knives, an axe, and wooden clubs.

“With today’s verdict, Escobar has been held responsible for the crucial role that she willingly played in orchestrating one of the most vicious and senseless mass murders in the district in memory,” stated United States Attorney Peace.

The MS-13 members dragged the victims’ bodies to a more secluded spot in the woods, piled them up, and then fled. The victims’ bodies were discovered the following evening, prosecutors said.

In the days following the murders, prosecutors said Escobar bragged to other gang members about her role in the killings and, in recorded calls with her boyfriend, who was a high-ranking member of the Brentwood clique, discussed the attack in detail.

Officials said that using barely coded language, and referring to the victims who were killed, Escobar wrote:

“four individuals took the train and who knows when they’ll be back, got me?”

She also then shared how that plan went awry when one person escaped, prosecutors said, adding:

“But one of them, one of them managed to still be here on the map” and “he knows stuff about me.” In a separate call, Escobar told her boyfriend that she was “happy for this to happen.” Of the four victims, she said they were “never coming back . . . somewhere else . . . seeing the light . . . no more . . . out of here . . . not on the map.”

Additionally, Escobar destroyed evidence of her involvement in the murders by disposing of a sweatshirt stained with the blood of a victim, tossing her cellular phone from a moving vehicle when she was being followed by the police, prosecutors said. She also falsely telling detectives that she and Gomez were victims of a random robbery in the park on the night of the murders, officials said.

"Subsequent to the murders she continued to demonstrate her callous disregard for human life
when she boasted about her role in the killings to enhance her stature within the gang," said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll."While nothing can bring the victims back, it is our hope that today’s verdict can bring their families a measure of comfort, knowing justice has been served.”

Gomez pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection with the murders and is awaiting sentencing.

More than a dozen MS-13 members and associates have been charged in connection with the April 11, 2017 murders.