Kingston man tied to NYC homicide

Was previously charged with gang-related killing in Ulster

KINGSTON, N.Y. » A Kingston man with alleged gang ties who already is under indictment for an Ulster County killing last fall was charged Tuesday with helping to commit a February homicide in Queens.

Yanki Misael Cruz-Mateo, 19, was arrested by New York City police and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the Feb. 2 slaying of an Elizabeth, N.J. man, the Daily News reported on its website.

The Daily News said Oscar Antonio BlancoHernandez, 20, was found mortally wounded in front of 85-14 160th St. in Queens about 6:40 p.m. Feb. 2. He had been shot in the head and groin and was pronounced dead at Queens General

Hospital.

On March 14, New York City police charged Alexander Sierra, 19, of Queens in the killing after he was extradited from Maryland. Four more arrests in the case were made Tuesday.

William Weishaupt, chief investigator for the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, confirmed Cruz-Mateo was one of four and that he’s the same person who was charged with murder conspiracy for an October 2017 killing in the town of Ulster.

The others arrested Tuesday in the Queens case were Carolina Morel Cruz, 24 and Jose Jimenez Chacon, 19, both of New Brunswick, N.J., and Saudi Levi Ramirez, 24, of Brooklyn, according to the Daily News.

Authorities said all four have ties to the 18th Street gang, a rival of the MS-13 gang, the Daily News said.

Weishaupt said the Queens case and Cruz-Mateo’s possible involvement in it have been on the radar of Ulster County prosecutors since Cruz-Mateo’s arrest in March for the Ulster killing.

“We were aware of that connection right from the outset,” he said.

In March, Cruz-Mateo and two other men with ties to the 18th Street gang — Israel Mendiola Flores, 23, and Sergio Gerardo Herrera-Hidalgo, 19, both of Kingston — were named in a federal indictment for murder conspiracy for the October 2017 killing, prosecutors have said.

Additionally, Christian Perez, 20, of Kingston, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly helping Cruz-Mateo evade capture after the killing, and he also faces weapons-related charges.

Separately, Flores, Herrera-Didalgo and Perez were charged with one count of second-degree murder apiece in Ulster County for the same killing.

Authorities have said the defendants videotaped the October 2017 killing before burying the victim’s remains in the Turkey Point State Forest, which borders the towns of Ulster and Saugerties. The video, obtained by the FBI, shows Flores slashing the victim across his neck and Cruz-Mateo severing his ear, prosecutors have said.

The victim’s name has not been made public.