3 alleged MS-13 gang members plead not guilty to murder charge

Three of five alleged MS-13 gangsters who law enforcement sources said killed a former member of the gang because of his role as an informant appeared in court Tuesday to face charges in the 2017 slaying. 

Carlos Benitez-Hernandez, 21, and William Reyes-Fuentes, 23, both of Uniondale, and Nerlin Chacon-Ruano, 20, of Hempstead, pleaded not guilty through a Spanish-language interpreter during their separate arraignments before Justice William O’Brien in Nassau County Supreme Court. A fourth defendant, Edar Ventura, 21, Hempstead, entered a not guilty plea through an interpreter Monday.

A fifth defendant is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, court records show.

O’Brien remanded the four to jail without bail. A grand jury indicted them Nov. 16 in the death of Carlos Rivas-Majano, 22, of Uniondale. Law enforcement sources have said Rivas-Majano was targeted for death because he was an informant for authorities. 

In August 2017, at least five MS-13 gang members lured Rivas-Majano to the woods south of Glenn Curtiss Boulevard near Kellenberg Memorial High School in East Meadow where they “viciously and barbarically” attacked him, authorities have said. Rivas-Majano's remains were found a year later. 

His killing was likely related to “the gang’s displeasure with his actions within the group or something that they felt was disrespectful to them or a threat to them,” Nassau Police Det. Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick, head of the homicide unit, previously said.

Chacon-Ruano, known as "Callejero," also faces a second-degree murder charge in connection with another slaying. Authorities have said that on Sept. 15, 2017, in Uniondale, he fired several shots from a 9 mm pistol that fatally wounded Ayamiguel Ayala-Hernandez. 

He has been held without bail in that case,  in which he has also pleaded not guilty. 

“He’s denied involvement in everything,” his Garden City-based lawyer, William Kephart, said Tuesday.

Ventura, known as "Despiadado" and "Trauma," is also charged with second-degree murder in a separate homicide. Authorities have said he shot and killed Alexon Moya, 16, in Uniondale in December 2016. He was arrested in that case in December 2017 and online records show he is due back in court Thursday.

"He's plead not guilty as to both," Ventura's Mineola attorney, David Haber, said on Tuesday.

Reyes-Fuentes also maintains his innocence, said his Mineola-based attorney, Steven Barnwell.

“I’d be curious to know how they put my client at the scene of the incident,” Barnwell said.  

Benitez-Hernandez's lawyer, Jeff Groder, also of Mineola, declined to comment. In August, Benitez-Hernandez was arrested and arraigned in connection with Rivas-Majano's killing. He was arraigned again Tuesday following the grand jury's indictment.  

Reyes-Fuentes, known as "Disobediente," and Benitez-Hernandez, known as "Malaspecto," are also charged in an attempted murder that allegedly occurred in March, court documents show. That case is ongoing.