ICYMI: MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison For Murder of Ceron Brothers

In case you missed it, here's a story that appeared last week in West Islip Patch:

A Brentwood gang member was sentenced to 40 years on Tuesday in prison for his involvement in the execution-style murders of two brothers in Brentwood back in 2011, according to the U.S. Attorney.

Arnolvin Umanzor Velasquez, 23, a member of the Brentwood Locos Salvatruchas (BLS) clique of the MS-13 gang was charged with the murders of Ricardo and Enston Ceron in December 2011.

After committing the murders, Velasquez, who is an El Salvador citizen, fled to his home country before returning to the United States and relocating to Georgia.

In 2015, Velasquez was found and arrested in Georgia by the FBI and transferred to New York.

The follow year he plead guilty to the Ceron brothers’ murders.

“The MS-13 is a scourge on too many communities on Long Island, across the United States, and around the world," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said. "The senseless acts of violence committed by its members cannot and will not be tolerated and will be met with resolute and unwavering enforcement by this Office and the members of the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force."

The BLS clique killed Enston because he was not attending meetings or “putting in work” for the MS-13, and the members were concerned that he might cooperate with law enforcement authorities if he were arrested.

They also murdered his brother who belonged to the Western clique of the MS-13, because they were concerned he would retaliate if he learned that the BLS killed his brother.

Velasquez, along with Sergio Cerna, had agreed to carry out the murders.

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The asked the brothers from a ride home from the party while armed with .22 caliber and 9mm semi-automatic handguns.

When the car stopped by Lincoln Avenue and Stockton Street the two executed the Ceron brothers, shooting them in the head and torso at close range.

They then exited the car and when another car approached the murder scene and stopped to try to help, Cerna fired multiple shots at the good samaritan, hitting him once in the chest.

The good samaritan survived the shooting.

Velasquez's sentence is the latest event in a series of federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York targeting members of the MS-13.

“This case illustrates how MS-13 maintains an ironfisted control over their turf, no life is protected, not even their own members," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said. "Their goal is to create chaos wherever they plant their flag. Our Long Island Safe Streets Task Force is working day and night, hand in hand with our partners, to get these gang members out of our communities."

Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said the local police is "fully committed" to decimating the gang in the Brentwood area.

"We will continue our multi-pronged strategy which entails collecting intelligence and creating strategic subject lists of known gang members, intense street enforcement targeted at those individuals, and collaboration with our federal law enforcement partners, including the FBI and the United States Attorney's Office, to strategically prosecute gang members under the federal RICO statute," he said. "This sentencing is yet another step in the right direction, but we will not stop until the job is done.”