MS-13 leader pleads guilty in case involving 8 murders, including deaths of 2 girls on Long Island

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A leader of an MS-13 gang clique in New York pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering in a case involving eight murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls who were hacked and beaten as they strolled through their leafy, suburban neighborhood on Long Island. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, whose office prosecuted the case, said Wednesday that Saenz’s hands are “drenched in blood.” As part of his guilty plea, Saenz admitted playing a role in six other murders and three attempted murders. Older victims included Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, 29, who was killed by a gunman inside a Central Islip deli in early 2017; Dewann Stacks, 34, who was ambushed and beaten to death as he walked along a road in Brentwood near a wooded area sometimes used as a gang meeting spot; Marcus Bohannon, 27, who was shot in 2016; and Michael Johnson, who was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in Brentwood in 2016. Prosecutors said Saenz, also known as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” was the leader of an MS-13 clique operating in Brentwood and Central Islip known as Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside.