An MS-13 gang leader has been convicted of ordering or carrying out the murders of eight people in just one year on Long Island, including two schoolgirls.
Alexi Saenz, 29, also known as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering charges stemming from the 2016 killing spree, with his attorney reading a statement admitting Saenz ordered or approved the rival gang killings.
He also admitted to arson, firearms crimes and drug trafficking, the proceeds of which he used to buy more firearms and drugs, and made contributions to the larger MS-13 operation.
Among Saenz’s victims were Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, two lifelong friends whose killings raised the nation’s awareness of a growing gang problem in the United States.
Saenz said he was not present when the two teenagers were killed, but that he had had telephone conversations with other gang members planning the attack beforehand.
Alexi Saenz, 29, also known as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering charges stemming from a series of murders in 2016.
Among Saenz’s victims were Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, two lifelong friends who were killed while walking through their neighborhood on Sept. 13, 2016.
The high school students were walking through their suburban Brentwood neighborhood, about 40 miles east of New York City, on Sept. 13, 2016, when they were attacked by a group of young men and teenagers who attacked them with machetes and beat them to death.
Cuevas’ body was almost unrecognizable after the incident.
According to prosecutors, the attack came after Cuevas had an online dispute with some members of the MS-13 gang and their associates.
The animosity led to a fight at Brentwood High School, which prosecutors say led the gang to “give Cuevas the green light, meaning they authorized her to be killed.” This is reported by the New York Post.
Following the killings, then-candidate Donald Trump called for those involved to face the death penalty and blamed lax immigration policies for the violence.
The girls’ murders raised the nation’s awareness of a growing gang problem in the United States.
The girls’ deaths also raised questions about whether Long Island police had been aggressive enough in confronting gangs that were emerging in local high schools.
For months in 2016, Hispanic children and young adults were disappearing in Brentwood, and police later discovered the bodies of three other teenagers in Brentwood, ages 15, 18 and 19, who had been reported missing months earlier.
In federal court on Wednesday, Saenz admitted to playing a role in six other murders and three attempted murders.
Among them was Javier Castillo, 15, of Central Islip, who prosecutors say befriended some gang members, only to end up being driven 30 miles west to Freeport, where he was fatally attacked with a machete in an isolated swamp.
His body was found a year later.
Another victim was Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, 29, who was killed by a gunman inside a Central Islip deli.
Oscar Acosta, 19, was also tricked by gang members into smoking marijuana in a wooded area, where he was beaten with tree branches and hacked to death with machetes. His body was found near some train tracks just days after Cuevas and Mickens were killed.
Michael Johnson, 29, was lured to his death in the same manner as Acosta, and was ambushed from behind: gang members beat him with a baseball bat, stabbed him with a knife and took turns attacking him with a machete.
Other victims include Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, 29, who was killed by a gunman inside a Central Islip deli; Dewann Stacks, 34, who was ambushed and beaten to death while walking along a road in Brentwood near a wooded area the gang sometimes used as a meeting place; and Marcus Bohannon, 27, who was shot nine times.
“To say that Alexi Saenz’s hands are soaked in blood does not begin to describe the multiple murders and extreme mayhem that he personally directed and committed over the span of a year in Suffolk County,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Saenz was finally arrested in 2017, on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and murder along with a dozen other members of his Long Island gang.
Saenz was finally arrested in 2017 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and murder along with a dozen other members of his Long Island gang, which was called Sailors Locos Savatruchas Westside.
Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty in the case, but U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered local prosecutors to withdraw their intention to seek capital punishment. according to ABC 7.
Under his plea agreement, Saenz now faces up to 70 years in prison.
But prosecutors have said they reserve the right to withdraw the deal before sentencing if his brother, Jairo Saenz — who allegedly served as the gang’s No. 2 leader — does not also agree to a plea deal before Alexi’s sentencing in late January.
Charges against the brother are still pending.
Charges against his brother, Jairo Sáenz, are still pending
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims have expressed mixed emotions about Saenz’s plea deal.
George Johnson, Michael Johnson’s father, said he saw no remorse or emotion from Saenz as he sat in federal court Wednesday to face the charges, arguing that he “should die” in prison.
“It seemed like something I wanted to get over and done with once and for all,” she said.
Freddy Cuevas, Kayla’s father, also said he was disappointed that the death penalty had been taken off the table.
“He’s an animal. He’s inhumane,” Cuevas said of Sáenz.
“We hope that justice will be done soon and we can put this all behind us as far as the families are concerned.”
Meanwhile, Nisa’s mother, Elizabeth Alvarado, expressed relief that she and the other families would not have to go through the trauma of a trial.
“All I wanted was for my daughter to be at peace,” she said through tears while wearing a black T-shirt with her daughter’s name on the back.
“The longer we’re gone, she’ll never be at peace,” Alvarado explained.
‘At the end of the day, she’ll be happy that it’s all over.’
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