MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty To Killing Boy In Freeport: Feds

FREEPORT, NY — An MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty to killing a 15-year-old boy in Freeport, the office of the acting U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York said.

Eduardo Portillo, also known as "Firuli" and "Tito" (Portillo), a member of the violent gang "MS-13," pleaded guilty to racketeering charges connected to the killing of 15-year-old Javier Castillo, the US attorney said.

Portillo, 24, was arrested in El Salvador in 2019 and extradited to the U.S. in Nov. 2020, the U.S. attorney's office said.

"With today’s guilty plea, the defendant, an MS-13 gang member, admits to an utterly depraved and heinous crime, of taking turns with a machete to hack a teenage boy to death, simply because he believed the boy belonged to a rival gang," Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement. "This office and its law enforcement partners in New York and El Salvador are committed to stopping the violence of MS-13 gang members and bringing an end to their reign of brutality and murder in this district."

According to court filing and statements by Portillo, Castillo was targeted because he was believed to be a member of a rival gang — the 18th Street Gang.

On Oct. 10, 2016, Portillo and other Brentwood-based MS-13 members traveled to Freeport where they smoked marijuana. They lured Castillo to an isolated marsh in Cow Meadow Park, where he was attacked with a machete, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Thereafter, the MS-13 members dug a hole and buried Castillo's body, which was not discovered until a year later, the U.S. Attorney said in the news release.

Portillo's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 18, 2022.