96 'Ruthless' MS-13 Gang Members Nabbed In Massive Takedown On LI

RIVERHEAD, NY — A table piled high with a machete, guns, and massive bags of cocaine and crack bore brutal testament to what officials called Friday the largest takedown of MS-13 gang members in United States history — with 96 defendants indicted and a total of 230 arrests of MS-13 gang members and associates in New York, throughout the United States, and El Salvador, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini.

The investigation spanned 23 months; a special grand jury was convened last month. The goal was to "deliver a major blow to the gang's leadership, operations and recruitment in our region," Sini said, at a press event at the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court complex in Riverhead. "Due to the collaborative nature of this investigation, and innovative strategies, we did exactly that."

As a result, Sini said, "countless acts of violence" were stemmed, including seven murder plots in Suffolk County.

"MS-13 is a ruthless, savage gang, which commits acts of violence to recruit, retain and control its members and exact revenge on its rivals as well as to extort innocent members of the community and engage in various acts of criminality to generate money, including drug dealing and sending portions of that money back to leadership in the home base of El Salvador," Sini said.

MS-13 leadership in El Salvador issued orders to the more than 10 cliques operating in Suffolk County, he said.

Sini also said the Suffolk County DA's office worked with the Nassau County DA's office to apprehend local gang leaders, including Noe Fuentes, or "Ghost," the head of the New York program, who was actively recruiting young members; MS-13 leadership was focused on growing the gang's presence on Long Island. "Ghost" was arrested after fears were raised that he was about to embark upon a "string" of violent crimes on Long Island, Sini said.

During the investigation, more than 215 phone numbers were the focus of court-authorized wiretapping over two years, "one of the largest wiretap investigations of gang operations in the United States, Sini said.

Those charged included the leadership and members of nine MS-13 cliques operating on Long Island including the Brentwood Locotes Salvatrucha, or “BLS”, Coronado, Guanaco, Huntington Criminales Locotes Salvatrucha, or “HCLS”, Jamaica Locotes Salvatrucha, or “JLS”, Leeward Locotes Salvatrucha, “Leeward”, Park View Locotes Salvatrucha, or “PVLS”, Carleton, or “KLS”, and Western, Sini said.

MS-13 gang members sold narcotics, including cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and marijuana, and sent the proceeds to gang leaders in El Salvador to purchase weapons, ammunition and additional drugs, Sini said.

Several local drug suppliers were identified, including six who were charged with operating as a major trafficker, a class A-1 felony that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison, Sini said.

Law enforcement seized more than 10 kilograms of cocaine; distribution quantities of heroin and marijuana; more than 1,000 counterfeit pills that appeared to be Oxycodone but were found to be fentanyl, as well as numerous machetes, nine handguns, two long guns, more than 500 rounds of ammunition, gun parts, and more than $200,000 in cash, Sini said.

"Due to law enforcement efforts, the New York program was ended," Sini said. "What then emerged was new efforts surrounding a permanent clique in Brentwood, which emerged after the dissolution of the New York program and helped us to identify new leadership that was directing cliques on Long Island to send gang proceeds to El Salvador," including David Rodriguez, aka "Dario," aka "Gato,"50, who was found in Massachusetts and previously deported, Sini said.

The investigation, Sini said, has "delivered a major blow against the gang."

Every clique on Long Island has a corresponding clique in El Salvador, Sini explained.

The main goal of the investigation was to prevent violence "before it ever happened by collecting real-time intelligence and acting upon it," Sini said. Efforts led to four indictments related to six different murder plots involving 19 defendants, he said; in addition, he said 30 drug dealers were charged with working with MS-13 "to sell poison in our communities," he said.

Those arrested came from nine different cliques, ranged in age from 16 to 59, and included illegal immigrants, United States citizens, and those with "some sort of legal status," Sini said. They lived in 22 locations across New York including Brentwood, Bay Shore, West Babylon, Central Islip, Huntington Station, Farmingdale, Shirley, Coram, Deer Park, Ronkonkoma, Freeport, Levittown, Queen, the Bronx, Washington Heights, Brooklyn, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and even as far away as Holland.

"Our message is simple: Law enforcement will do what it takes to protect our communities," Sini said. "MS-13, we are coming for you."

Ray Donovan, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the investigation was launched two and a half years ago with key objectives including taking back the community and saving lives.

The investigation commenced utilizing surveillance, social media, telecommunication, and "good-old fashioned police work," he said.

Officials said that through the investigation, they were able to learn about the methodology of MS-13, how they operate, and how their infrastructure is set up, as well as rule for advancement; in one case, for a gang member to move up the ranks, they would have to kill four times, officials said.

Also, said Donovan, MS-13 had planned to establish an East Coast foundation here in New York for the gang. "That will never happen," he said.

Officials said there are more than 50,000 MS-13 gang members in Central America, with 8,000 to 10,000 in the United States and Europe. "Our work is still ahead of us," Donovan said; officials added that statistics in 2016 and 2017 indicate that there were 28 homicides attributed to MS-13 on Long Island; in both 2018 and 2019, there were one per year.

The investigation was conducted by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and numerous other agencies.

“Today’s arrests close the book on MS-13’s attempt to build an arsenal of brutality on the East Coast,” said Donovan. “This announcement is a message to MS-13 leaders in El Salvador and LA that New York will not be your home.”

Added Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart: “MS-13 gang members act with depravity and no regard for the victims that they prey upon. Their violence has no bounds, which is why investigations like this one are so critical. As a result of this unprecedented collaboration, we have not only saved lives and removed narcotics off our streets, we have decimated cliques struggling to rebuild.”

“Suffolk County has waged war against MS-13, working to dismantle this violent gang from the ground up," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “We have the leadership in place with the expertise and record to combat MS-13, and will continue to utilize every available asset to eradicate this gang once and for all.”

President Donald Trump has taken a stand against deadly MS-13, traveling to Long Island in 2017 to speak about the insidious MS-13 gang that's been terrorizing local communities across Long Island in the county.

In his speech, he promised to rid the gang-ravaged communities of Long Island of the "animals" on their streets. He spoke in Brentwood, where two teen girls were brutally murdered by MS-13 members in 2016."They butchered those little girls," Trump said. "They kidnap. They extort. They rape and they rob. They prey on children. They shouldn't be here."The president also said the gang had transformed Long Island's "peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields."

The gruesome discovery in a Central Islip park in April 2017 of four young men murdered by MS-13 members brought an international spotlight to Suffolk County, with elected officials and law enforcement vowing to fight back.

"MS-13 has terrorized Long Island communities for too long, murdering innocent New Yorkers and instilling fear in countless others," said New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo after the announcement. "This fight is not over, and there's much more work to do to bring justice to the families victimized by the abhorrent acts of MS-13. I applaud the work of these incredible investigators and detectives, and pledge to continue our aggressive efforts to eradicate MS-13 from Long Island once and for all."