Photo Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
“The significant federal charges in the superseding indictment, including the brutal murder of a mother whose body was wrapped in trash bags, underscores the cruel depravity and senseless violence of the MS-13 gang,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Peace said.
By Forum Staff
On Tuesday, a superseding indictment was unsealed in federal court in Central Islip charging 11 members of the violent transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, with racketeering conspiracy, including predicate racketeering acts involving murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, witness tampering and witness retaliation, and related narcotics and firearms offenses.
Four of the defendants were charged with committing the April 11, 2021 murder of Nazareth Claure in Far Rockaway, whose body was recovered from the trunk of a car.
Three of the defendants – Onan Garcia-Lopez, also known as “Demente,” David Alberto Orantez-Gonzalez, also known as “Carlos Rodriguez-Gonzalez” and “Casper,” and Carlos Torres-Alfaro, also known as “Solitario,” – were arrested Tuesday.
The other eight defendants, Billy Ayala-Pineda, also known as “Berdugo,” and Wilian Estiven Sanchez-Perez, also known as “Maniako,” who were charged in the underlying indictment, and Anander Henriquez-Avila, also known as “Cara Papa” and “El Papa,” Allan Lopez-Villeda, also known as “Serio,” and “Casper,” Carlos Ramirez-Portillo, also known as “Chino” and “Siniestro,” Jose Sarmiento-Valeriano, also known as “David,” Henry Vasquez-Padilla, also known as “Trece,” Rigel Yohario Velasquez-Mancia, also known as “E,” were already in federal and state custody.
As alleged in the superseding indictment, Ayala-Pineda, who was charged in the underlying indictment and arrested on December 15, 2021, was the highest-ranking member (or “First Word”) of the Surenos Locos Salvatruchas (“SLS”) clique operating in Queens and Long Island. Ayala-Pineda directed the SLS clique’s drug trafficking activity, acts of violence committed against rival gang members and against members and associates of the gang who Ayala-Pineda deemed to have been disloyal to the gang, and the SLS clique’s acquisition of firearms. The other ten defendants all were members and associates of the MS-13 and involved in trafficking narcotics and committing acts of violence in furtherance of the gang’s objectives in conjunction with the SLS clique.
All 11 defendants are charged with racketeering conspiracy for their participation in MS-13 crimes, including murder, robbery, witness tampering, witness retaliation, drug trafficking, and related conspiracy, attempt and firearms offenses. In addition, Henriquez-Avila, Lopez-Villeda, Sarmiento-Valeriano, and Velasquez-Mancia, are charged with the murder of Claure, on or about April 11, 2021 in Queens. Claure was deemed to have disrespected MS-13 and was brutally murdered with a machete.
In the early morning hours of April 13, 2021, Lopez-Villeda, Sarmiento-Valeriano, and Velasquez-Mancia were pulled over during a car stop by the NYPD and HSI in Queens, New York. Ms. Claure’s body was discovered in the trunk of the car wrapped in trash bags. In addition to the murder, the Indictment charges all the defendants with conspiring to distribute cocaine, oxycodone, and marijuana, as well as their use and possession of firearms in furtherance of their narcotics trafficking. These charges stem from the MS-13 clique’s street-level sales of narcotics on Long Island, the proceeds of which were used to help finance the MS-13’s criminal operations, which is evidenced by financial records of money sent back to El Salvador and Mexico.
“The significant federal charges in the superseding indictment, including the brutal murder of a mother whose body was wrapped in trash bags, underscores the cruel depravity and senseless violence of the MS-13 gang,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said.
