Jury Convicts Gang Member of Stabbing Nassau Teen to Death

A Hempstead gang member was convicted of killing a Westbury teenager in 2010 following a two-week trial, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced Tuesday.

The jury took two days to convict 23-year-old Pedro Santos, known by the street name “Tiro Loco,” of second degree murder and fourth degree criminal possession of a weapon.

On Nov. 14, 2010, Santos and fellow 18th Street gang member Yan Cifuentes, 16, of Hempstead, approached Yunior Orlando Maldonado, 18, of Westbury, as he walked on Thorne Avenue in Hempstead at 11:20 p.m. The two gang members asked Maldonato what gang he was in and started chasing him, the DA said.

Santos caught up with Maldonato and began swinging a machete at him while Cifuentes stabbed him six times with a knife before fleeing the scene, the DA said.

Maldonato died at 11:58 p.m. in Winthrop Hospital, two minutes before his 19th birthday.

Santos was arrested nine days after the incident by Nassau County Police.

Cifuentes pleaded guilty to second degree murder in November 2011 and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

“This defendant and an accomplice barbarically murdered an innocent young man with a machete and knife,” Singas said in a press release. “The violence that Pedro Santos inflicted clearly indicates that he does not value life and has no place on our streets.”

Santos will be sentenced on April 6 and faces up to 25 years to life in prison on the top count.