Three senior members of the MS-13 gang have admitted guilt for their involvement in a series of nine murders carried out with machetes and firearms in suburban New York City, as stated by federal prosecutors.
Kevin Torres officially pleaded guilty on Friday in a federal court located in Central Islip, facing racketeering charges linked to these killings. These violent incidents occurred during a particularly tumultuous period for the gang in New York between 2016 and 2017. At the age of 29, Torres was identified as the New York regional leader of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside, a branch of MS-13 based in Long Island, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York.
On Thursday, David Sosa-Guevara, 33, and Victor Lopez-Morales, 36, both residents of Roosevelt, also entered guilty pleas in the same Central Islip courtroom. Prosecutors reveal that Sosa-Guevara was the leader of the Hollywood Locos Salvatruchas in New York, another faction of MS-13, and that Lopez-Morales held a high-ranking position within the gang.
The prosecutors further detailed that many of the gang’s victims were individuals suspected of belonging to rival gangs, who met brutal deaths at the hands of gang members using machetes in remote parks and wooded locales. Numerous bodies were disposed of in shallow graves, often remaining undiscovered for extended periods.
Notable among the victims were those murdered on Long Island in 2016, including Samuel Martinez-Sandoval, Oscar Acosta, Kerin Pineda, Josue Amaya-Leonor, Marcus Bohannon, Javier Castillo, and Carlos Ventura-Zelaya. Additionally, the 2017 murders included the deaths of Angel Soler, also on Long Island, and David Rivera in Maryland.
According to prosecutors, the three defendants confessed to these homicides as a means to elevate their standing within the gang and to push its agenda. MS-13, also referred to as Mara Salvatrucha, is believed to have been established in Los Angeles during the mid-1980s by individuals escaping the civil conflict in El Salvador.
Anne Donnelly, Nassau County District Attorney, expressed in a statement, along with other law enforcement representatives, that “These defendants carried out vicious and senseless violence to instill fear and assert their dominance. Today’s guilty pleas bring us one step closer to ridding this dangerous gang activity from Nassau County communities.”
The legal representatives for Sosa-Guevara did not provide comments on Saturday, while responses from the attorneys for Lopez-Morales and Torres were not immediately forthcoming.
Each defendant is facing a minimum sentence of 40 years in prison as stipulated by their plea agreements, while Torres and Sosa-Guevara are looking at a potential maximum of 65 years. Lopez-Morales could receive up to 60 years based on the prosecution’s statements.
Earlier this week, another high-ranking MS-13 member named Jairo Saenz also pleaded guilty to his involvement in seven murders, which included the killings of Acosta and Castillo, as well as two high school girls whose deaths drew national attention towards the violent operations of the gang.
