Two senior members of the violent MS-13 gang are among more than a dozen indicted for a series of grisly machete murders across Long Island and Queens, according to prosecutors.
Edenilson Velasquez Larin, 35, and Hugo Diaz Amaya, 36, were indicted along with 15 conspirators for murders spanning from 2016 to 2022, in which victims were hacked to death before their dismembered bodies were discarded, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced Monday.
Larin — also known as “Tiny” — and Amaya — known as “Splinter” — are allegedly two of the highest ranking US members of the international gang based out of El Salvador and Honduras, but with organized presences called “cliques” across the US that are especially prevalent in Queens and Long Island.
The US arm of the gang is run by a group of senior members known as “La Mesa,” who largely organize their criminal dealings from prison. Until their arrest, Larin and Amaya were two of the last remaining members of La Mesa not behind bars, according to prosecutors.
Both are charged with partaking in or ordering a series of murders spanning 2016 to 2022 — including one in which fellow gang member Eric Monge was shot dead in his car moments after his wife and young children walked away.
Larin allegedly ordered that Queens execution, while several henchmen carried it out.
In another incident, in 2016 in Uniondale, Larin and another gang member allegedly became friends with Kenny Reyes, an 18-year-old recently arrived from Honduras, when they came to believe he was associated with a rival gang.
Larin and a co-conspirator allegedly decided to murder Reyes to elevate their status in MS-13, and after luring him to the woods under the pretense of smoking weed hacked him to death with machetes.
Then in 2022, Larin and Amaya both allegedly ordered the murder of fellow gang member Oswaldo Gutierrez Medrano. The 20-year-old was lured under the pretenses of receiving a promotion, but was instead hacked to pieces with machetes and knives.
He was dismembered and his body parts were buried in the woods, prosecutors said.
Others named in the indictment include 27-year-old Jose “Fantasma” Iraheta, 26-year-old Victor “Curioso” Lopez, 24-year-old Tito “Imprudente” Martinez-Alvarenga, 26-year-old Christian “Pata de Chucho” Leon, and 25-year-old Jose “Tranquilo” Aguilar.
“My Office and our law enforcement partners have worked tirelessly to hold MS-13 accountable for the unspeakable harm it has done to its victims and our communities,” said DA Breon Peace in a statement.
“As these charges make clear, our pursuit of those responsible will not be deterred by the passage oftime or by the leaders of MS-13’s futile attempts to hide in the shadows,” he added.
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