MS-13 Leaders Found Guilty in New York Gang Murder Trial

Prosecutors said victims were shot, hacked with machetes, and dismembered as part of a racketeering operation that spanned years and terrified New Yorkers

On December 19th, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted two national leaders of the violent MS-13 street gang and two other members on racketeering charges tied to a series of brutal murders in Queens and on Long Island. The four defendants (22 defendants were part of the original indictment) were found guilty following a 10-week trial in the US District Court before Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall. Each now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when sentenced. The streets of New York City and Long Island can breathe a small sigh of relief. “These verdicts send a clear message: The NYPD will stop at nothing to identify, dismantle, and hold accountable any street gang that terrorizes our neighborhoods with violence,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

A federal jury convicted national MS-13 leaders Edenilson Velasquez Larin, 36, of Colorado and Hugo Diaz Amaya, 37, of Kansas City, along with Fulton … https://t.co/FWDR6DbFKn @RaymondOrta

— Raymond Orta Forensics (@ROForensics) December 20, 2025

Federal officials said the defendants were responsible for orchestrating or carrying out four gruesome and violent murders between 2016 and 2022 as part of the gang’s racketeering enterprise; the killings involved machetes and firearms.

Credit: Lauren Conlin

Those convicted are Edenilson Velasquez Larin, Hugo Diaz Amaya, Jose Espinoza Sanchez, and Jose Arevalo Iraheta. The gang members have a multitude of nicknames listed in the indictment. Velasquez Larin and Diaz Amaya were identified as national leaders of MS-13, a transnational gang known for extreme violence. Prosecutors said the two “gang-authorized” murders across the United States (operating outside prison), made them among the highest-ranking MS-13 leaders active on the streets; thus marking this conviction a huge win.

Credit: U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York

Velasquez Larin was convicted of multiple counts including racketeering conspiracy, continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking conspiracies, money laundering conspiracy, firearms offenses, and murder in aid of racketeering tied to four killings: the 2016 machete murder of 18-year-old Kenny Reyes in Uniondale; the 2018 shooting death of 20-year-old Victor Alvarenga in Queens; the 2020 shooting death of 25-year-old Eric Monge in Queens; and the 2022 machete killing of 20-year-old Oswaldo Gutierrez Medrano in Nassau County.

Espinoza Sanchez, a clique leader on Long Island, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, firearms offenses, and murder in aid of racketeering connected to three of the four killings, prosecutors said. Arevalo Iraheta was convicted on racketeering and murder charges tied to the Gutierrez Medrano killing, as well as firearms offenses.

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Federal prosecutors said the killing of Oswaldo Gutierrez Medrano was one of the most brutal, stemmed from internal MS-13 “discipline.” After an unauthorized double murder by a Sailors Locos Salvatruchas gang member in a Texas federal prison, gang leaders known as La Mesa ordered retaliation against the Sailors clique. Gutierrez Medrano, a Sailors member in New York, was lured to Nassau County on February 13, 2022, under the false pretense of receiving a routine gang “beating,” to prove himself, authorities said. Instead, he was attacked to death with machetes and a knife, dismembered, and buried in a wooded area.

Federal prosecutors said the crimes were carried out to increase the defendants’ standing within the gang, punish perceived rivals, and enforce MS-13 rules through violence.

“This verdict holds accountable four extremely dangerous MS-13 members who participated in heinous murders and now deservedly face mandatory life sentences,” said US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. in a press statement. He credited the FBI, HSI, NYPD, plus Suffolk and Nassau County Police for their work on the investigation and dismantling of violent gang leadership operating in New York.

Sentencing dates have not yet been announced.