UNITED STATES NEWS

MS-13 leader pleads guilty in case involving 8 murders, including deaths of 2 girls on Long Island

Jul 10, 2024, 10:00 AM | Updated: 11:38 am

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A leader of an MS-13 gang clique in New York pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering and firearms charges in a case involving eight murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls who were hacked and beaten to death as they strolled through their leafy, suburban neighborhood on Long Island.

Alexi Saenz entered the plea Wednesday in federal court in Central Islip. Prosecutors previously withdrew an attempt to seek the death penalty in his case.

Among the deaths he was accused of ordering are the killings of Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, lifelong friends and classmates at Brentwood High School who were killed with a machete and a baseball bat.

The deaths of the high school students focused the nation’s attention on MS-13 gang violence during the administration of President Donald Trump.

The Republican called for the death penalty for Saenz and others arrested in the killings and blamed the violence and gang growth on lax immigration policies as he made several visits to Long Island. Cuevas’ mother Evelyn Rodriguez was a guest at Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address.

The girls’ deaths led to questions about whether police had been aggressive enough in confronting what was then a serious threat of gangs developing inside area high schools.

For months in 2016, Hispanic children and young men had been disappearing in Brentwood, a working class community 40 miles (64.37 kilometers) east of New York City. After Cuevas and Mickens were killed, police discovered the bodies of three other young people in Brentwood, ages 15, 18 and 19, who had vanished months earlier.

Police and federal agents arrested dozens of suspected members of MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal organization 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.

Cuevas’ mother, Rodriguez, became an anti-gang activist after her daughter’s death but was herself killed in 2018. Rodriguez was fatally struck by a car during a dispute over a memorial marking the second anniversary of her daughter’s death. The driver, Annmarie Drago, pleaded guilty in 2024 to negligent homicide.

Saenz’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Saenz, also known as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” was the leader of an MS-13 clique operating in Brentwood and Central Islip known as Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside. Charges are still pending against his brother, Jairo Saenz, who prosecutors say was second-in-command in the local gang.

___

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

United States News

FILE - Nearly 500 balloons begin to take off during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, O...

Associated Press

International fiesta fills New Mexico’s sky with colorful hot air balloons

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One of the most photographed events in the world is set to kick off Saturday with a mass ascension of color for the 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The nine-day gathering draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and pilots to New Mexico each fall for the rare opportunity to be […]

1 hour ago

District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones responds to a question during the League of Women Voters of Co...

Associated Press

Progressive prosecutors in Georgia faced backlash from the start. They say it’s all politics.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Two Georgia district attorneys who promised criminal justice reforms are facing reelection races that will test whether progressive prosecutors in liberal pockets of the swing state can survive intense blowback from state Republicans and some prominent local Democrats. Shalena Cook Jones of Chatham County and Deborah Gonzalez of Athens-Clarke and Oconee […]

1 hour ago

Associated Press

As search for Helene’s victims drags into second week, sheriff says rescuers ‘will not rest’

PENSACOLA, N.C. (AP) — The search for victims of Hurricane Helene dragged into its second week on Friday, as exhausted rescue crews and volunteers continued to work long days — navigating past washed out roads, downed power lines and mudslides — to reach the isolated and the missing. “We know these are hard times, but […]

2 hours ago

Sofia Roca, a 49-year-old immigrant from Colombia, climbs a stairway inside her apartment complex i...

Associated Press

For migrant women who land in Colorado looking for jobs, a common answer emerges: No

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — East Colfax Avenue was the best place to find a job. That’s what everyone told Sofia Roca. Never mind the open drug use, the sex workers or the groups of other migrant women marching the sidewalks soliciting work at the very same Mexican restaurants and bakeries. On East Colfax in Aurora, […]

2 hours ago

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at the Ry...

Associated Press

Assassination attempts and new threats have reshaped how Donald Trump campaigns

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was onstage at a rally on Long Island last month, talking about taxes, when he appeared momentarily spooked by something he’d spotted over his shoulder. “I thought this was a wise guy coming up,” he explained, joking that he was getting his elbow ready to fight back. “You know […]

2 hours ago

In this image from video, a security video shows Vice President Mike Pence being evacuated from nea...

Associated Press

Filing in Trump case details remarkable schism with Pence over rejecting 2020 election loss

WASHINGTON (AP) — Days before rioters roamed the halls of the U.S. Capitol threatening to “hang Mike Pence,” Donald Trump told his vice president that people are going to “hate your guts” and “think you’re stupid” if he failed to stop the 2020 election certification. The New Year’s Day warning wasn’t the first time Trump […]

2 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Bright Wealth Management

Here’s how to save money on retirement planning

PHOENIX -- With inflation still going on, people planning on retiring still face many issues on when they can retire and how much money they need to achieve it.

...

Sanderson Ford

3 storylines to get you revved up for the 2024 Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals training camp is just a couple weeks away starting on July 25, and Sanderson Ford is revved up and ready to go.

...

Midwestern University

Midwestern University Clinic visits boost student training & community health

Going to a Midwestern University Clinic can help make you feel good in more ways than one.

MS-13 leader pleads guilty in case involving 8 murders, including deaths of 2 girls on Long Island