Former MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Killing 7, Including 2 Teenage Girls

A Military Police soldier stands by graffiti made by the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-19) gang that reads "Girls of the Combo Go Away Or We'll Kill You," in the MS-13-controlled El Bosque neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on May 9, 2017. Orlando Sierra/AFP via Getty Images

A former high-ranking member of the notorious MS-13 gang pled guilty on Jan. 14 to racketeering and weapons charges in connection with the murders of seven people in separate attacks on Long Island, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Jairo Saenz, also known as “Funny,” entered his guilty plea in federal court in Central Islip in a hearing attended by members of his family and some of the victims’ families.

“I did these things and I knew they were wrong,” the 28-year-old said in Spanish through a translator.

Prosecutors say that Saenz, who is originally from El Salvador, was second-in-command of the Brentwood/Central Islip chapter of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside (Sailors) clique of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, also known as MS-13.

The transnational criminal organization is one of the more powerful, violent, and well-established criminal gangs on the East Coast of the United States.

The murders in which Saenz admitted taking part included the 2016 killings of two high school girls who were bludgeoned with baseball bats and hacked with a machete.

Jairo Saenz in an undated mug shot. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York via AP

Saenz faces 40 to 60 years in prison.

In a statement, Acting U.S. Attorney Carolyn Pokorny described Saenz’s crimes as “barbaric.”

She said the gang’s senseless acts of violence had turned parts of Long Island into a “war zone,” with MS-13 gang members “wielding guns, machetes, bats, and fire that threatened the safety of our communities.”

“I commend my Office’s prosecutors and the Long Island Gang Task Force who are committed to holding MS-13 gang members accountable for the crimes they have committed and harm they have caused,” Pokorny said.

“It is my sincere hope that today’s guilty plea brings some measure of solace and closure to the families of the defendant’s victims who continue to mourn the deaths of their loved ones.”

High School Students Among Victims

Brentwood High School students Kayla Cuevas, 15, and Nisa Mickens, 16, were killed in September 2016 following a series of disputes with members and associates of the MS-13, according to prosecutors.

The two girls were walking down a residential street when members of the gang chased them down and attacked them.

Other victims in the case included Javier Castillo, 15, whom prosecutors say gang members lured into an isolated marsh area in Cow Meadow Park before attacking him with a machete.

Another victim, Oscar Acosta, 19, was also discovered dead in a wooded area near some railroad tracks five months after leaving home to play soccer.

Saenz also admitted to killing three other victims: Michael Johnson, whom the gang lured into a secluded area before murdering; Dewann Stacks, who was ambushed and beaten to death as he walked along a road in Brentwood; and Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, who was shot and killed inside a Central Islip deli.

Additionally, Saenz pled guilty to his role in three attempted murders, arson, narcotics trafficking, firearms offenses, and a conspiracy to kill Marcus Bohannon, who was murdered on Sept. 5, 2016, by other members of the MS-13, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Saenz is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.

According to prosecutors, Saenz’s brother, Alexi Saenz, also known as “Blasty” and “Plaky,” was the leader of the clique.

He pled guilty to similar charges in July 2024 and will be sentenced later this month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.