An MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty Monday on racketeering charges in connection with the 2017 murders of four young men from Long Island, New York, and will face up to life in prison if convicted.
Josue Portillo oversaw a plan to lure and kill members of a suspected rival gang — Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre, Jefferson Villalobos, and one other person — during an encounter in the woods at Central Islip Park in Suffolk County on April 11, 2017.
Portillo was just 15 years old at the time and a citizen of El Salvador who had been in the United States illegally when he committed the crimes.
On the night of the attacks, he had two girls lure the five young men into the park. A Justice Department statement regarding the trial did not provide the males’ ages.
The 15-year-old mastermind had instructed associates from MS-13’s sub-clique, Leeward Locos Salvatruchas, to attack the men once they arrived. The beating was meant as payback for how the five had disrespected MS-13, according to DOJ.
The two girls led the unsuspecting men to a secluded part of the park and one texted Portillo with their location.
Armed with machetes, knives, and wooden clubs, Portillo and his accomplices surrounded the men and beat four of the men to death. The fifth person was able to get away during the attack, according to court documents. Afterward, the MS-13 members moved the four lifeless bodies to an even more remote area in the woods and fled the scene.
“Whether young or old, the savagery of MS-13 gang members remains the same. Portillo and other members of MS-13 brutally beat and killed four young men, leaving them in an isolated wooden area,” William F. Sweeney, Jr., assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, said in a statement. “We hope today’s news provides some measure of comfort to the families of the victims and the community as a whole.”
Portillo is being tried as an adult and will be deported to El Salvador after serving his sentence.
