MS-13 leader sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for teen's killing

An MS-13 clique leader who prosecutors said ordered the hacking death of a 15-year-old whose body was partly encased in concrete in the woods of Roosevelt is going to prison for 24 years to life.

A judge on Friday sentenced David Sosa-Guevara, 28, in Nassau County Court following his December guilty plea to murder and conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors said Sosa-Guevara, who lived in Wyandanch and was known on the street as “Risky,” led the gang’s Hollywood clique on Long Island and directed the 2017 slaying of teenager Angel Soler.

Authorities said the victim went missing that July after leaving home one evening on his bicycle. Investigators found Soler's remains that October and a month later extradited Sosa-Guevara from Maryland — where authorities said he fled after other gang members carried out the slaying.

Soler’s mother previously told Newsday she brought her son to live in the United States from Honduras four years before his killing because of gang violence there.

Prosecutors said Sosa-Guevara admitted that he reported to gang leadership in El Salvador and in the United States and that MS-13 committed crimes including murder, assault and drug trafficking. They said he also admitted to sharing the Hollywood clique's profits with gang leaders in El Salvador.

"With today's sentence, one of Nassau County's most dangerous defendants will be off our streets for many years to come," Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a statement after his sentencing.

Prosecutors said Sosa-Guevara also planned the slaying of an alleged MS-13 member who was thought to have been disloyal to the gang, ordering the transport of weapons to Maryland for that reason.

The clique leader also directed his members to work with the gang's Sailors clique on Long Island, according to the district attorney's office, which collaborated on the investigation with agencies including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, Nassau police and police in Maryland, Virginia and Texas.

"He ultimately took responsibility and agreed to 24 years to life," Sosa-Guevara's appointed attorney, Paul Delle, said after his client's sentencing Friday.

Prosecutors said previously that top MS-13 lieutenant Victor Lopez, 31, also pleaded guilty to murder in Soler's slaying. Court records show Lopez is scheduled for sentencing next week.