US: MS-13 leader pleads guilty to 8 murders, including killing of Long Island teen girls

AnMS-13 gang clique leader inNew York, United Statesentered a guilty plea on Wednesday (Jul 11)to charges of racketeering and possessing firearms in connection with eight murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls who were beaten to death when they were walking through their suburban neighbourhood on Long Island.

Alexi Saenz entered a plea in Central Islip federal court, where he faces a sentence of 40 to 70 years in prison. Prosecutors earlier dropped their intention to seek the death sentence in his case.

The 29-year-old is scheduled for sentencing on January 31 of next year. He was initially indicted in 2017 in the Eastern District of New York.

In 2020, eight more MS-13 members from two gang cliques were charged with six killings and other crimes on Long Island.

During Wednesday's hearing, Saenz spoke briefly through a Spanish interpreter as the judge posed a series of yes or no questions regarding the plea deal and the crimes he was confessing to.

Saenz through his attorney said that he ordered or sanctioned killings of members of other gangs and of those who challenged or disrespected him or his gang members.

Among them were the murders of lifelong friends and Brentwood High School classmates Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, who were brutally killed with a machete and a baseball bat.

William Barr, the former attorney general of the United States, submitted a notice of intent to pursue the death sentence against Saenz in 2020. Charges against Alexi's brother, Jairo Saenz, are also pending.

MS-13 was created in the United States in the 1980s by Salvadoran immigrants escaping El Salvador's civil war. The Department of Justice claims that the gang is "notorious for its use of violence to achieve its objectives."

(With inputs from agencies)