Officials: MS-13 targeted 2 men for death

Suffolk and federal law enforcement officials said Monday they prevented two MS-13 gang murders by arresting six men on conspiracy charges.

But attorneys for the defendants say they have no indication that the men were gang members or engaged in anything more ominous than boasting within earshot of informants. All have pleaded not guilty, and state Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho has ordered them all held on varying amounts of bail.

"These were not empty threats," Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said at a news conference, noting the gang's violent history on Long Island. "We have seen MS-13 gang members commit horrific murders," he said.

He said investigations such as this prevent crime from happening, and he said the level of gang violence has dropped significantly from 2015 and 2016.

He and Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said their willingness to collaborate with federal law enforcement agencies has made streets safer from gang violence.

Three of the six men have been charged with conspiring to kill two men on behalf of the MS-13 street gang. Another three defendants were involved in one of the two conspiracies, according to the indictment, which also charges all six with conspiring to buy a gun for the second planned murder.

The three men charged with second-degree conspiracy in the first case are Kevin "Sharky" Zuniga, 20, of Brentwood; Jose "Soldado" Portillo, 28, of Maryland; and Kevin "Abuelo" Mejia Sandoval, 31, of Maryland. They are accused of planning from August to January to kill a person they believed was cooperating with law enforcement, the indictment says.

"He denies all of this," said Portillo's attorney, Joseph Hanshe of Sayville, who described his client as a clean-cut, hardworking landscaper who had nothing to do with the gang. "He's got a wife, he's got a child."

Mejia Sandoval's attorney, Ian Fitzgerald of Central Islip, said the case seemed overblown to him.

"It looks like a lot of talk," he said of the allegations. "It doesn't look like they came anywhere close to carrying any of this out."

According to the indictment, Zuniga and Mejia Sandoval met on Aug. 26, 2018, to discuss killing the person they believed to be a snitch. Mejia Sandoval said gang leaders in El Salvador confirmed the target was "a snitch" and authorized his killing, according to the indictment.

In the second case, all six defendants, who prosecutors say are from the Leeward clique, are accused of conspiring at the same time to kill a gang member from the 18th Street clique. In this plan, the indictment says Zuniga, Portillo and Mejia Sandoval were joined by Emerson "Wason" Hernandez Escobar, 17, of Brentwood; Rafael "Poison" Hernandez Elias, 17, of Brentwood and Gerver Chinchilla Perez, 22, of Brentwood.

Portillo, Zuniga, and Mejia Sandoval are leaders who receive orders from MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador and direct local members to carry out the gang’s missions, he said.

The indictment says that on Dec. 21, Zuniga and Hernandez Elias discussed killing this person and others and realized they needed permission from gang leadership to do so, The indictment says Zuniga contacted Mejia Sandoval, got that permission, and also got the target's physical description and location.

Gang members discussed killing this target either with a gun, a machete or by blowing up his car with a Molotov cocktail, according to the indictment. Eventually, Zuniga told Chinchilla Perez to follow the target, the indictment says.

He did, and asked Zuniga when he'd get a gun to carry out the killing, the indictment says.

Chinchilla Perez' attoney, Richard Stafford of Bohemia, said his client has nothing to do with the gang.

"He says he's just a regular working guy," Stafford said. "He had nothing to do with these guys."

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison for each of the conspiracy to commit murder charges.