Three MS-13 gang members from Nassau plead guilty in nine murders, prosecutors say

By Robert Brodskyrobert.brodsky@newsday.com @BrodskyRobertJanuary 18, 2025

Three high-ranking members of the MS-13 street gang, all from Nassau County, pleaded guilty this week to their roles in nine murders across Long Island between 2016 and 2017, federal prosecutors said.

Kevin Torres, 29, of Freeport, the local leader of the gang's Sailors clique, pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip on Friday to racketeering charges in connection with the murders.

On Thursday, also in Central Islip, David Sosa-Guevara, 33, the New York leader of the gang's "Hollywood" clique, and Victor Lopez-Morales, 36, a high-ranking leader in the group, both of Roosevelt, also pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection to the murders.

Sosa-Guevara and Lopez-Morales also pleaded guilty to participating in a 2017 conspiracy to kidnap an individual, prosecutors said. All three men also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana, authorities said.

Sosa-Guevara and Torres face up to 65 years in prison at sentencing while Lopez-Morales faces up to 60 years in prison.

"The defendants have admitted to their participation in numerous murders savagely committed with machetes and guns, all on behalf of the MS-13 and to increase their status in that depraved criminal organization," said Carolyn Pokorny, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "As a result of the guilty pleas, the defendants will be severely punished by serving decades in prison and provide some measure of relief and closure to the families of the many victims."

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Dennehy added that MS-13 "callously used murder in an attempt to exert control over territory for their ruthless gang operations."

Attorneys for the three men did not respond to requests for comment.

According to prosecutors, the nine murders included:

The April 26, 2016, murder of Samuel Martinez-Sandoval because they believed the 20-year-old Freeport man was a member of the rival Sureños gang. Martinez-Sandoval, prosecutors said, was hacked with a machete and other weapons and buried in a shallow grave near Freeport Lake in Roosevelt.
The April 29, 2016, murder of Oscar Acosta, 19, in Brentwood because he was suspected to be associating with the rival 18th Street gang. Acosta, prosecutors said, was brutally beaten with tree limbs, bound, driven near the abandoned Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital and hacked to death with a machete.
The May 21, 2016, murder of Kerin Pineda, 20 in Freeport, who was also murdered because of his suspected membership in the 18th Street gang, authorities said. Pineda was lured to a secluded wooded area near the Merrick-Freeport border where he was attacked and buried, officials said.
The Sept. 4, 2016, murder of Josue Amaya-Leonor, 19, in Roosevelt, also because of his perceived association with the 18th Street gang. Amaya-Leonor, prosecutors said, was surrounded by gang members armed with machetes, repeatedly struck and killed in the Roosevelt Preserve.
The Sept. 5, 2016, murder of Marcus Bohannon, 27, in Central Islip. Bohannon, a suspected member of the rival Bloods gang, was spotted walking along Lowell Avenue in Central Islip and shot nine times, police said.
The Oct. 10, 2016, murder of 15-year-old Javier Castillo in Freeport, who was targeted as a member of the 18th Street gang. Castillo of Central Islip was brought to an isolated marsh in Cow Meadow Park where MS-13 members took turns hacking him with a machete, police said.
The Oct. 14, 2016, murder of Carlos Ventura-Zelaya, 24, in Roosevelt, who was also targeted because of his suspected 18th Street affiliation. Ventura-Zelaya was shot and killed while walking on Hudson Street after leaving a deli, authorities said.
The July 21, 2017, murder of 15-year-old Angel Soler in Roosevelt, another suspected 18th Street member. Soler, officials said, was lured to a wooded lot near Milburn Creek, attacked with weapons, including a pickax, and buried in a shallow grave.
The Aug. 29, 2017, murder of 16-year-old David Rivera, also suspected to be aligned with a rival gang, in Maryland, where the gang members had relocated to avoid police, officials said. Rivera was killed in a park outside of Edgewater, Maryland, and his body was not found until last June, prosecutors said.