CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A New York MS-13 gang clique leader entered a guilty plea on Wednesday to racketeering in a case involving eight murders, including the 2016 beating and hacking deaths of two high school girls who were walking through their leafy Long Island suburban neighborhood.
The 29-year-old Alexi Saenz made the plea in federal court in Central Islip without saying much. In a statement, which his attorney delivered, Saenz acknowledged that he had ordered or approved the murders of people he considered to be his rivals and those who had insulted or disagreed with members of his inner circle.
Among the fatalities were 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas and 15-year-old Nisa Mickens, who were lifetime friends and students at Brentwood High School. A group of young men and teenage boys who had followed them in a car slaughtered them with a machete and a baseball bat.
The nation's attention was drawn to MS-13 gang violence under President Donald Trump's administration by the high school students' killings.
During his multiple visits to Long Island, the Republican had demanded the death sentence for Saenz and other people detained in connection with the deaths, blaming the rise in gang activity and violence on inadequate immigration laws. Evelyn Rodriguez, Cuevas' mother, attended Trump's 2018 State of the Union speech as a guest.
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