High-ranking MS-13 gang leader sentenced for role in 2017 murder of teen in Massapequa Preserve, DA says
Nassau County Police were called to the Massapequa Preserve on March 23, 2017, where the body of Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales was found. Prosecutors said he was "lured" to the preserve on Jan. 28, 2017, with promises of marijuana and sex after a gang member "pretended" to befriend him. Espantzay-Gonzales was was killed there.
Credit: Jim Staubitser
A high-ranking member of MS-13 was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years-to-life in prison for his role in the January 2017 murder of a teenager in the Massapequa Preserve, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said.
Carlos Portillo, 28, also known as "Solitario" and "Pikachu," was convicted Jan. 26 of second-degree murder, following a weeklong trial in which the jury deliberated for about three hours.
He was sentenced Wednesday before Judge Helene Gugerty.
Joseph LoPiccolo, Portillo’s Garden City-based defense attorney, said his client left MS-13 in 2017.
“He was then targeted by members of MS-13 and went to the police for protection,” he said. “The Nassau County Police Department and District Attorney's Office chose prosecution. He maintains he is not guilty of murder in the second degree and will vigorously appeal his conviction.”
Three co-defendants — Kevin Granados-Coreas, Antonio Cullal and Raul Ponce — previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the murder of Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales, 19. Authorities said he had been perceived as an enemy of MS-13 and had worn "the wrong color" when invited to a known gang location before his murder, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Espantzay-Gonzales was "lured" to the preserve on Jan. 28, 2017, with promises of marijuana and sex after a gang member "pretended" to befriend him. His body was discovered on March 23, 2017, by a man walking his dog.
"Carlos Portillo, as a high-ranking member of the Indios Locos Salvatrucha clique of MS-13, orchestrated the execution of 19-year-old Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales, providing weapons to murder him and sealing his fate,” Donnelly said in a statement Wednesday.
According to the indictment, Granados-Coreas told Roberto Abrego-Reyes, Portillo and Cullal that Espantzay-Gonzales was "an enemy of the gang." Prosecutors said Abrego-Reyes, as alleged leader of the Indios Locos Salvatrucha (ILS) clique of MS-13, gave the order to Portillo — second-in-command of the clique — to kill Espantzay-Gonzales. In the news release Wednesday, the district attorney's office said Portillo then organized gang members, instructed them on how and where to kill Espantzay-Gonzales, and provided them with a car, a gun and a machete.
Once inside the preserve, Donnelly said, Granados-Coreas, Cullal, Ponce and Gerson Stanley Juarez allegedly hacked Espantzay-Gonzales to death with a machete.
The 19-year-old was also shot in the face. His body was then left under tree branches, leaves, and other brush.
Portillo was arrested by Nassau homicide detectives in July 2017. His attorney could not be reached for comment.
The cases against co-defendants Abrego-Reyes, Juarez and Laura Campos are pending.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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