3 MS-13 Gang Members Reportedly Charged In Brutal Quadruple Homicide In Central Islip

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — The FBI confirmed Monday that "multiple arrests" have been made after the brutal murders of four young men in a Central Islip park in April, reportedly by MS-13 gang members.

According to a post by Newsday, at least three members of the deadly MS-13 gang were arrested, including Alexis Hernandez, Santis Leonel Ortiz-Flores and Omar Antonio Villata. Each was charged with one count of murder, Newsday reported; the men were arrested by the FBI's Long Island Gang Task Force and police.

The victims killed in April were identified as 16-year-old Justin Llivicura, of East Patchogue, 20-year-old Michael Banegas, of Brentwood, 18-year-old Jorge Tigre, of Bellport, and 18-year-old Jefferson Villalobos, of Pompano Beach, Fla., police said.

The murders focused an international spotlight on escalating deadly MS-13 activity in Suffolk County: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to Central Islip in April with a message for the deadly MS-13 gang members he believes are a threat to the American public: "We are targeting you."

The AG then spent more than 30 minutes outlining his plans to "demolish" MS-13, the gang believed to be behind horrific murders in the Brentwood/Central Islip area.

The bodies were found just a few miles from where police say MS-13 gang members killed numerous people, including Brentwood High School students Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas last year. Thirteen MS-13 members have been charged in connection to seven murders in Brentwood over the past several years.

Rep. Peter King, R-Seaford, who spoke to Patch about the critical issue of unaccompanied minors in an exclusive Patch look inside the brutal gang, introduced Sessions.

MS-13, Session said, are a "group of murderers, traffickers and thugs, carrying out a frontal assault" on law-abiding men and women; they must not be allowed to take over a single block or street corner. "This is an assault on law and safety, and we're not going to let it happen," he said.

He added, "Gang violence is in the headlines, right here on Long Island, and we're going to see what we can learn today ... to see if we can do a better job in confronting it."

For those who believe gangs and cartel members are "powerful figures that can't be touched," Sessions reminded that in the past, the federal government has made "substantial progress against MS-13. We hammered these organizations. But they've come back," Sessions said, adding, "We can hammer them again — and we will do so."

State police, Sessions said, are on the forefront, but federal officials also play a critical role. "If we work together I believe we can dismantle these organizations, and it's going to be one of our top priorities," he said.

A message for MS-13

According to Sessions, "MS-13's motto is kill, rape and control. Our motto is going to be justice for victims and consequences for criminals. I have a message to the gangs that are targeting our young people: We are targeting you. We are coming after you."

The attorney general promised to prosecute gang members to the fullest extent of the law and deport those that are in the United States illegally.

Transnational criminal organizations, he added, "represent one of the greatest threats to America's public safety today. They also threaten the very existence of stable governments in their own home countries with the wealth they have obtained and the violence they use. They enrich themselves by peddling poison in our communities, trafficking children for prostitution, and inflicting horrific violence in our neighborhoods, where they operate."

MS-13, he said, ships "ill-gotten wealth back to home criminal enterprises."
Sessions said there are more than 30,000 MS-13 abroad, with their headquarters in the El Salvadorian prison system. "That's where the bosses operate from," he said.

In the United States, he said MS-13 can be found in at least 40 states, with numbers increasing.

"The justice department has zero tolerance for gang violence," Sessions said. "If you are a gang member, know this: We will find you and we will devastate your network, starve your revenue sources, deplete your ranks and seize your profits."

Long-term success in taking down gangs

The long-term success to taking down "aggressive transnational crime organizations" lies in securing borders and installing a lawful system of immigration, Sessions said.

"We cannot continue with this transporting across our borders illegal immigrants who haven't been properly vetted and are actually part of criminal organizations," he said.

Transnational crime organizations are bringing members almost exclusively across the Mexican border, stationing gang members at safe houses in Texas, Sessions said.

Speaking to the issue of undocumented minors, Sessions said the federal government transports them where they would like to go; one witness, he said, "shocked" him by saying he took the minors to their destination cities.

"This is how we are. And I think the bad guys know how this system works, and have exploited it," Sessions said.

Moving forward, the AG promised to identify networks, investigate and build cases against gang members, and dismantle gangs through targeted prosecution, as well as to deport convicted criminals in the country illegally.

Prevention, Sessions said, is also key, with education of young people critical. "We know that gangs aren't content to ruin the lives of just adults," he said, adding that they are recruiting in high schools as well as middle and elementary schools. "Every time they convert a young person to their dangerous, depraved life of violence and crime they steal those young people's future and our nation's future."

Earlier in Apirl, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa shared his own plan to tackle MS-13; Suffolk County Steve Bellone and New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo also visited Suffolk County to discuss tactics to take down the deadly gangs.

In June, a crackdown netted 39 MS-13 arrests in 30 days — with 33 of those arrests in Suffolk County.

But for Tigre's sister Monica, all that remains are memories of the brother she will never see again: "He was a wonderful person. He was always smiling and helping my family and me. I will remember him — his smile and his kindness," Tigre said.

Patch file photo of the crime scene by Evan Rolla.