MS-13 Gang Leader Pleads Guilty to Racketeering and Firearms Charges Involving Eight Murders
Alexi Saenz, the leader of the MS-13 gang’s Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside clique, pleaded guilty to racketeering and firearms charges, admitting that he ordered or approved the killings of rival gang members and people who had disrespected or feuded with his clique’s members. The case involved eight murders, including the killings of two high school girls who were hacked and beaten to death with a machete and a baseball bat as they strolled through their suburban neighborhood on Long Island in 2016. Saenz, who was not present during the teens’ killings, faces 40 to 70 years in prison. He also admitted to providing drugs to gang members to sell on the streets, the profits of which went toward buying firearms and providing contributions to the wider MS-13 gang.
The Victims’ Families’ Reactions
During the hearing, Saenz spoke through a Spanish interpreter, and his supporters declined to comment after the hearing. Freddy Cuevas, Kayla Cuevas’ father, expressed disappointment that the death penalty had taken off the table in the case, calling Saenz an animal and inhumane. Nisa Mickens’ mother, Elizabeth Alvarado, expressed relief that she and other families of the victims would not have to go through the trauma of a trial and hoped her daughter could rest in peace. Kayla Cuevas’ mother, Rodriguez, became an anti-gang activist after her daughter’s death but was fatally struck by a car during a dispute over a memorial marking the second anniversary of her daughter’s death in 2018.
The MS-13 Gang’s Background and Legacy
MS-13 is a transnational criminal organization that is believed to have been founded as a neighborhood street gang in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s by people fleeing civil war in El Salvador. The gang has become notorious for its brutal and violent tactics, including the use of machetes, guns, and other weapons in carrying out its crimes. The girls’ deaths brought attention to the gang’s presence and influence in Long Island, and it raised questions about whether police had been aggressive enough in confronting the growing threat of gangs developing inside area high schools. In response to the murders, police and federal agents arrested dozens of suspected MS-13 members.
The Saenz Case and Pending Charges
Saenz’s brother Jairo Saenz, who prosecutors say was second-in-command in the local gang, is awaiting trial on related charges. Meanwhile, grocery stores in the US have started to sell bullets in vending machines, while other news highlights American track and field athletes’ roster for the Paris Olympics.
Originally Post From https://www.rmoutlook.com/cannabis-news/ms-13-leader-pleads-guilty-in-case-involving-8-murders-including-deaths-of-2-girls-on-long-island-9201979
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