Current:Home > InvestNovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Center:MS-13 gang member pleads guilty in 2016 slaying of two teenage girls on New York street -FinanceMind
NovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Center:MS-13 gang member pleads guilty in 2016 slaying of two teenage girls on New York street
Fastexy View
Date:2025-04-10 21:58:57
CENTRAL ISLIP,NovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Center N.Y. (AP) — A member of the violent MS-13 street gang pleaded guilty Thursday for his part in the murders of four people, including two teenage girls who were attacked with a machete and baseball bats as they walked through their suburban Long Island neighborhood seven years ago.
Enrique Portillo, 26, was among several gang members accused of ambushing best friends Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, in retaliation for a dispute among high school students in 2016.
The murders in Brentwood, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of New York City, shook parents and local officials and cast a spotlight on the deepening problem of gang violence in the suburbs.
As president, Donald Trump visited Brentwood and promised an all-out fight against MS-13, saying he would “dismantle, decimate and eradicate” the gang.
Gang violence had been a problem in some Long Island communities for more than a decade, but local police and the FBI began pouring resources into a crackdown after the community outrage sparked by the killings of the high school girls.
Police also began discovering the bodies of other young people — mostly Hispanic — who had vanished months earlier, but whose disappearances had initially gone unmarked by civic leaders and the news media. Some parents of the missing complained that police hadn’t done enough to search for their missing children earlier.
As part of a guilty plea to racketeering, Portillo also admitted to using a baseball bat in a fatal 2016 gang attack on a 34—year-old man and standing watch as gang members shot and killed a 29-year-old man inside a Central Islip deli in 2017.
“As part of his desire to gain status within MS-13, Portillo repeatedly acted with complete disregard for human life, killing four individuals along with multiple other attempts,” Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release.
Portillo and other members of an MS-13 faction were driving around Brentwood in search of rival gang members to attack and kill on Sept. 13, 2016, when they spotted Kayla, who had been feuding with gang members at school, walking with Nisa in a residential neighborhood, prosecutors said.
Portillo and the others jumped out of the car and chased and killed both girls with baseball bats and a machete. Nisa’s body was discovered later that night and Kayla’s body was found the next day.
“These senseless and barbaric killings, including those of teenagers Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens, shook our communities,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Thursday, “and reverberated around the nation.”
Portillo faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in January for his role in the killings and in four other attempted murders and arson. He was among several adults and juveniles charged in 2017 in the girls’ deaths and the first publicly revealed to have been convicted. Two adults are still awaiting trial. The cases involving the juveniles are sealed.
A month after Nisa and Kayla’s deaths, Dewann Stacks was beaten and hacked to death on another residential street by Portillo and others who, once again, were driving around Brentwood in search of victims, prosecutors said.
Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla was killed inside a deli the following January by gang members who suspected that the No. 18 football jersey that he was wearing marked him as a member of a rival gang.
MS-13 got its start as a neighborhood street gang in Los Angeles, but grew into a transnational gang based in El Salvador. It has members in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico and thousands of members across the United States with numerous branches, or “cliques,” according to federal authorities.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Southern Charm’s Madison LeCroy Mother's Day Gift Ideas Include a TikTok Fave She Uses Every Night
- Family fears body parts, burned car are that of Sade Robinson, a missing Wisconsin woman
- Las Vegas Aces WNBA team gets bigger venue for game Caitlin Clark is anticipated to play in
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Feeling nauseous? Here's how to feel better, according to experts
- Next stop for Caitlin Clark is WNBA. What kind of player will she be for Indiana Fever?
- Idaho teen faces federal terrorism charge. Prosecutors say he planned to attack a church for ISIS
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- How NBA Play-In Tournament works: Brackets, schedule and history
Ranking
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- Solar flares reported during total eclipse as sun nears solar maximum. What are they?
- Winner in Portland: What AP knows about the $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot so far
- Conservative hoaxers to pay up to $1.25M under agreement with New York over 2020 robocall scheme
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- 2024 CMT Music Awards celebrated country music Sunday night. Here's what to know for the show.
- Why Below Deck's Familiar New Stew Is Already Starting Drama on Season 11
- Out of this World ... Series. Total solar eclipse a spectacular leadoff for Guardians’ home opener
Recommendation
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
Detroit-area landlord to pay $190K to settle claims of sexual harassment against women
Justice Department rejects House GOP bid to obtain audio of Biden interview with special counsel
Person comes forward to claim $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot in Oregon
The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
Choreographer Lorin Latarro, rock’s whisperer on Broadway, gives flight to the Who and Huey Lewis
Rihanna Reveals the Plastic Surgery Procedure She Wants to Get
The NCAA women’s tourney had everything: Stars, upsets, an undefeated champion. It’s just the start