MS-13 members arrested in slayings of 2 teenage girls
Officials promise to ‘eradicate’ gang from Long Island
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Nearly six months after the savage killings of two teenage girls in a Long Island suburb, federal authorities and Suffolk County police announced Thursday they had arrested their alleged killers as part of a federal sweep that captured 13 members of the Salvadoran-linked gang, MS-13.
In a news conference at the U.S. federal courthouse in Central Islip, Robert L. Capers, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the arrests, four of them made before dawn Thursday.
“For far too long on Long Island, MS-13 has been meting out its own version of the death penalty,” Capers said.
He said that 10 of the 13 gang members were unauthorized immigrants who would be fully prosecuted, including in connection with crimes that are eligible for the death penalty. Four of the five gang members accused of being directly involved in the killings of Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens in the town of Brentwood on Sept. 13, were unauthorized immigrants, Capers said. So were the four members who were arrested in connection with the killing of Jose Pena-Hernandez, an 18-year-old whose remains were found in the woods near a hospital in October.
The federal charges include racketeering, seven murders, attempted murders, obstruction of justice, arson and conspiracy. Since the killings, Suffolk County Police Department and New York state have arrested more than 125 known MS-13 gang members, officials have said; the arrests Thursday are the only ones in conjunction with federal authorities.
“We have promised to eradicate MS-13 from our streets and we remain committed to finishing the job,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said. “Today marks the healing process with this brilliant and resilient community.”
In a brief interview on the way to the courthouse for the arraignment of the men accused of killing her daughter, Evelyn Rodriguez choked back tears. “Today is a celebration,” she said, thanking Suffolk County police for their work. “I just wish I can hold Kayla.”
Eleven gang killings in Suffolk County last year were attributed to MS-13, and the cases became a referendum on illegal immigration, as a majority of the members had come to the United States illegally.
But Sini cautioned that while police worked with the FBI Long Island Gang Task Force, they also depended on the cooperation of community members, including those living here illegally. Sini said that he would not authorize his officers to become immigration agents as President Donald Trump has directed in an executive order on immigration enforcement.
“Any law enforcement official worth their salt wants a community to feel comfortable providing law enforcement information about specific crimes and also about public safety issues in their community,” Sini said after the news conference, “and without the cooperation of the community, the mission is compromised.”