MS-13 BOSS IN CUFFS FOR LI MAYHEM
Gang kingpin ‘Reaper’ faces slay-plot and drug raps
The MS-13 street gang’s Northeast leader — known as “Reaper” — was charged Thursday with running a murderous clique that has ravaged Long Island.
Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, head of the “Sailors” clique on the Island, was the high-ranking “regional director” for the Salvadoran gang’s operations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, authorities said.
The beefy 35-year-old was extradited from Maryland to New York for arraignment on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and trafficking $1 million worth of heroin to New York, Maryland and Texas.
“The leader known as Reaper — an appropriate name, since he chose his victims like the Grim Reaper — left murder and mayhem in his wake,” DEA Special Agent in Charge James Hunt said at a press conference.
The alleged kingpin was in charge of making all crucial decisions and doling out assignments to henchmen.
Gang members “had to get permission from [Diaz] to commit various crimes,” such as murder, and determined whether victims should be strangled, stabbed or shot, prosecutors said in court.
Diaz ordered two hits that were foiled by police, Nassau County DA Madeline Singas said.
One was on a suspected rat in Prince George’s County, Md., whose information resulted in the arrest of three gang members.
The order was allegedly given on Sept. 29, 2017. The next day, Diaz directed associates to snuff out a rival gang member in Elizabeth, NJ, according to prosecutors.
“With today’s arraignment, we now have the highest-ranking MS-13 member on the East Coast in custody,” Singas said. “Reaper ordered murders and beatings and directed the gang’s drug operations in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Texas and elsewhere.”
She added that Diaz’s cohorts “were detailed on every aspect of
planning, down to where to dispose of the victim’s body and on how deep to dig the hole.”
Diaz, who has addresses in Long Branch, NJ, and Laurel, Md., allegedly reported directly to the head of MS-13 in El Salvador.
He was busted trafficking 1,500 grams of heroin in The Bronx and Maryland and 1,000 grams in Texas, according to prosecutors.
Diaz was taken down via wiretap in an investigation involving more than 20 law-enforcement agencies, Singas said.
Police also recovered cocaine, a loaded gun and a machete.
He is charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of operating as a major trafficker and two counts of conspiracy related to narcotics.
He pleaded not guilty in Nassau County Court and was remanded. He faces 25 years to life in prison.
Diaz was one of 17 alleged MS-13 goons cited in a federal indictment in January charging them with second-degree murder, drug trafficking and conspiracy.
He had been cooling his heels in Prince George’s County Detention Center on local felony drug charges pending the arrest warrant out of Nassau County.
Singas vowed to put a stop to La Mara Salvatrucha — or MS-13 — which has gained a stronghold in Nassau and Suffolk counties over the last decade and is responsible for numerous murders across Long Island.
“Our investigations are ongoing. Our efforts to stop recruitment pipelines continue,” Singas said.
“We will work with anyone to stop MS-13 from recruiting vulnerable kids to their organization. We must continue our unrelenting law-enforcement assault on MS-13, from their low-level recruiters to their most senior leaders in El Salvador.”
Diaz was deported from the United States in 2012 after he was convicted on a narcotics charge, sources said, but he obviously snuck back in. His lawyer did not return a call for comment.
The “Sailors” and “Hollywood” cliques send proceeds of their illicit activities back to leaders in El Salvador.
Officials said the cliques operate in Hempstead, Freeport, Roosevelt, Uniondale, Glen Cove, Greenport and Central Islip.
The fast-growing gang — whose motto is “mata, viola, controla” — “kill, rape, control” — has been so hard to control that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a crackdown in 2017, warning, “We are coming after you.”