Alleged MS-13 Member Arraigned On Murder Charges

An alleged member of MS-13 was arraigned on Thursday on a grand jury indictment charge that he participated in the brutal murder of a 19-year-old from Roosevelt in 2016.

Jose Daniel Lopez, 19, was charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty, and is due back in court on Sept. 25. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.

“The defendant and MS-13 accomplices allegedly lured a 19-year old man, who they believed to be a rival gang member, into the woods where they viciously hacked him to death with a machete,” said District Attorney Madeline Singas. “We continue to vigorously investigate this case as part of our multi-front assault on this violent gang, and additional arrests are expected soon.”

Singas said that on Sept. 4, 2016, Lopez and other MS-13 members, struck 19-year-old Josue Amaya Leonor with a machete multiple times, killing him. Lopez, a member of MS-13’s Hollywood Clique, and the others buried Leonor’s body, Singas said, which was recovered on May 30, 2018, in a wooded area of the Roosevelt Preserve.

According to Singas, Leonor, who MS-13 members believed to be a rival gang member, was lured to the reserve with the promise of marijuana. Authorities say he had been targeted as an enemy of the gang.

Lopez was arrested by the Nassau County Police Department on June 14, 2018.

Photo courtesy Nassau County Police Department