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A New York Gang Leader Pleads Guilty To Murder
A New York MS-13 gang boss has entered a guilty plea to charges of racketeering and possessing firearms in an eight-murder case, which includes the 2016 Long Island killings of two high school girls who were hacked and severely beaten.
Alexi Saenz entered his plea in Central Islip federal court. In the past, prosecutors abandoned their attempt to pursue the death penalty in this case. Using a machete and a baseball bat, he was accused of ordering the deaths of Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, two of his lifelong friends and classmates from Brentwood High School.
The nation’s attention was drawn to MS-13 gang violence under President Donald Trump’s administration by the high school students’ killings.
During his multiple travels to Long Island, the Republican advocated for the death penalty for Saenz and other individuals detained in connection with the murders, attributing the rise in gang activity and violence to inadequate immigration laws.
Evelyn Rodriguez, the mother of Ms. Cuevas, attended Mr. Trump’s 2018 State of the Union speech as a guest. Following the girls’ deaths, there were concerns about the police’s level of aggression in addressing the then-present issue of gang development inside local high schools.
In 2016, Hispanic youth and children went missing for months in Brentwood, a working-class neighborhood 40 miles east of New York City.
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Police found the bodies of three additional young people in Brentwood, aged 15, 18, and 19, who had disappeared months earlier, after Ms. Cuevas and Ms. Mickens were slain. Numerous suspected members of MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, have been apprehended by police and federal authorities.
MS-13 is a multinational criminal organization that was allegedly started in the mid-1980s as a neighborhood street gang in Los Angeles by El Salvadorian refugees.
Following the loss of her daughter, Ms. Cuevas’ mother turned into an anti-gang activist; nevertheless, she was murdered in 2018. A automobile hit Ms. Rodriguez tragically when they were arguing about a monument for her daughter’s second anniversary of death. In 2024, Annmarie Drago, the driver, entered a guilty plea to negligent homicide.
Saenz, also referred to as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” was allegedly the head of the MS-13 group Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside, which operated in Brentwood and Central Islip, according to the prosecution. Prosecutors claim that Jairo Saenz, his brother, was the local gang’s second-in-command, although charges against him are still pending.
Gentle Reminder: Be careful how you use your authority and influence, be wise, and treat others with respect.
Chychy Jonas
