Long Island defendants charged in federal indictment on murder, drug trafficking, money laundering charges, officials say

Nearly two dozen alleged MS-13 gang members, including six from Long Island, have been charged in a federal indictment targeting a national leader of the violent street gang, who prosecutors say ordered murders and engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

The indictment, unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn Wednesday, also charges several MS-13 members with a series of attempted murders in Elmont and Westbury between 2019 and 2021.

“The defendants charged are alleged to have participated in heinous gang violence and criminal behavior that brought fear and terror to our communities,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office Michael J. Driscoll said in a statement.

Edenilson Velasquez Larin, 33, of Thornton, Colorado, an alleged national leader of the MS-13 and the Fulton Locos Salvatruchas clique operating in Nassau County, is accused of ordering the hits in several Long Island turf wars, prosecutors said.

The indictment pegs a series of violent exchanges in Westbury in summer 2021 to MS-13, alleging the incidents began when member Christian Alas Leon, 24, of Westbury and others chased a member of the rival Latin Kings gang with machetes on July 29, 2021. Alas Leon and another member slashed the alleged victim on his back and head before he was able to escape, prosecutors said in a news release. 

When an MS-13 member was stabbed in the chest as retaliation, members of the Fulton clique allegedly met at a public park in Hicksville, with Velasquez Larin joining by telephone, to plan a murder of a Latin Kings member, prosecutors said.

On Aug. 2, 2021, Erick Galdamez Leon, 23, of Westbury allegedly fired several shots at a target of the attack, who survived a gunshot wound to the ankle.

Six weeks later, Carlos Alvarado, 19, of Westbury and Tylor Salmeron, 20, of Westbury allegedly participated in the attempted murder of a different Latin Kings member who posted a mocking video on social media showing himself walking through Fulton territory in Westbury. The man survived being shot in the face by Alvarado and another man on Sept. 15, 2021, prosecutors said. 

Velasquez Larin and Jose Espinoza Sanchez, of Carrboro, North Carolina also allegedly ordered three MS-13 members from Queens and New Jersey to kill 18th Street Gang members in Elmont in 2019 and 2020, prosecutors said. The orders led to several shooting incidents, according the indictment.

The indictment charges MS-13 members with four murders in Queens between April 2018 and September 2020.

“The murders and other crimes of violence allegedly committed by these defendants were brutal, coldblooded and utterly senseless,” Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District, said in a statement.

Alleged MS-13 members Jose Mejia Hernandez, 21, of Westbury and Yonathan Hernandez, 24, of Hempstead were also charged in the indictment. Both men were previously charged by federal prosecutors in other Long Island incidents. Mejia Hernandez was tied to drug trafficking and money laundering charges in Wednesday’s indictment.

Each of the Long Island-based defendants was scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors are seeking a permanent order of detention, citing their alleged gang affiliation, the violent conduct alleged in the indictment, and their immigration status.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.