Two Dozen LI MS-13 Members Charged With Racketeering

A 73-count superseding indictment was unsealed on Thursday charging two dozen members of MS-13 with racketeering in connection with multiple murders and planned homicides on Long Island.

The indictment charges eight new members, seven of whom were already in custody, as party of a litany of crimes. The crimes are related to the April 29, 2016 murder of Oscar Acosta in Brentwood; the July 18, 2016 attempted murder of two suspected rival gang members in Brentwood; the Aug. 10, 2016 attempted murder of rival gang members in Brentwood; the Sept. 12, 2016 arson of two vehicles in Brentwood; the Oct. 10, 2016 murder of Javier Castillo in Freeport; the Oct. 13, 2016 murder of Dewann Stacks in Brentwood; the Dec. 18, 2016 assault outside Super Taco restaurant in Brentwood; and a conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

In total, the gang members associated with the case have been charged in connection with 15 murders.

“The charges in this indictment further demonstrate the utter brutality of the MS13 and the havoc the gang inflicts on our communities,” stated United States Attorney Richard Donoghue. “This office and our law enforcement partners will continue to combat the MS-13’s violence with relentless perseverance until the gang is dismantled and its members are brought to justice.”

According to authorities, Kevin Torres, the leader of the Sailors clique of MS-13 in New York, and Alexi Saenz, the leader of the Brentwood chapter of the Sailors, authorized Acosta’s murder because he was suspected of being a rival 18th Street gang member. On April 29, 2016, prosecutors say Nelson Argueta Quintanilla and other MS-13 members encountered Acosta, beat him with tree limbs, tied him up, and called Alexi Saenz, Jairo Saenz, Jonathan Hernandez and others, who met them. The gang members loaded Acosta into the trunk of a car, prosecutors say, drove to a more isolated wooded area in Brentwood, stabbed and slashed Acosta to death with a machete and buried his body, which was recovered in September 2016.

On Oct. 10, 2016, Alexi Saenz, Jairo Saenz, Wilber Adalberto Fernandez Vasquez, Frank Alexander Ventura-Ramirez and other MS-13 members murdered Javier Castillo, prosecutors say, who they also suspected of being a rival 18th Street gang member. The gang members lured Castillo, who lived in Central Islip, to Cow Meadow Park in Freeport, where prosecutors say they attacked and killed him with a machete and buried his body in a shallow grave near a saltwater marsh. Castillo’s body was recovered in October 2017.

On Oct. 13, 2016, only three later, prosecutors say Alexi Saenz, Jairo Saenz, Enrique Portillo, Ever Flores and other MS-13 members murdered Dewann Stacks, who they suspected was a rival gang member. While Alexi Saenz and gang members kept lookout from a car, Portillo, Flores and another gang member attacked
and killed Stacks with a baseball bat and machetes before returning to the getaway vehicle driven by Jairo Saenz, according to prosecutors.

This new indictment also charges members of the Sailors with four non-fatal violent crimes that happened in 2016. On July 18, 2016, prosecutors say Alexi Saenz, Jairo Saenz and Portillo attempted to murder two rival gang members in Brentwood. One of those men was shot, and the other man was both shot and repeatedly slashed with a machete, leaving him permanently disfigured, according to prosecutors.

On Aug. 10, 2016, prosecutors say Alexi Saenz, Jairo Saenz, Argueta-Quintanilla, Hernandez and Marlon Serrano attempted to murder rival gang members in Brentwood, where numerous shots were fired, but no one was wounded. On Sept. 12, 2016, Alexi Saenz, Jairo Saenz, Portillo and Serrano set fire to two vehicles at the home of a person who had a dispute with the gang, prosecutors say. And on Dec. 18, 2016, prosecutors say Jose Suarez and Flores assaulted two men who were "disrespectful" toward the gang outside a Super Taco restaurant in Brentwood.

The indictment also adds marijuana and cocaine conspiracy charges against Suarez, Argueta-Quintanilla, Fernandez-Vasquez, Flores, Hernandez, Serrano, Torres and Ventura-Ramirez, and separate marijuana conspiracy charges against Jerlin Villalta, a member of the Freeport Locos Salvatruchas clique of the MS-13.

In addition to the three new murders, 12 other murders previously were charged in this case: the May 26, 2013 murder of Derrick Mayes; the May 28, 2013 murder of Keenan Russell; the July 14, 2014 murder of Jose Lainez-Murcia; the June 30, 2015 murder of Jonathan Cardona-Hernandez; the June 3, 2016 murder of Jose Pena; the Sept. 13, 2016 murders of Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens; the Jan. 30, 2017 murder of Esteban Alvarado Bonilla; and the April 11, 2017 murders of Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos, as well as numerous attempted murders and assaults.

“The charges and arrests detailed here show our relentless efforts to dismantle and eradicate MS-13 in communities on Long Island,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “The unbelievable partnerships and relationships we’ve built with the law enforcement agencies on our Long Island Gang Task Force have allowed us to make a huge dent in the havoc created in recent years by MS-13. Our work isn’t over, and we won’t stop our pursuit until the community no longer fears the violence and deadly attacks by this gang.”

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