Gang head pleads guilty to violent crimes

The head of the Huntington Station chapter of the Latin Kings street gang, whose actions have "terrorized" the area, according to federal officials, pleaded guilty Thursday to a number of violent felonies in the community.

Angel Cordero, 27, of Deer Park, the leader, or First Crown, of the chapter, known as a clique, admitted in federal court in Central Islip to charges of conspiracy to commit assault with dangerous weapons between February 2008 and March 2010; attempted assault on a rival gang member; and firing a firearm during a crime of violence.

"The Latin Kings has problems with other rival street gangs, including the Crips, SSP [Southside Posse], and MS-13, and one of the best ways to earn respect within the Latin Kings is by committing violent crimes against members of rival gangs or anyone who disrespects the Latin Kings," Cordero said in a written statement read in court by his attorney Terrence Buckley.

In the statement, Cordero said he was personally involved in one of the four violent incidents in Huntington Station that federal officials attributed directly to the Latin Kings: the March 11, 2010, unsuccessful attempt to shoot members of the rival Crips outside the Super K store on New York Avenue in Huntington Station.

"I drove . . . to the wooded area near the 'Super K' store . . . I had a gun and shot several times at members of the Crips street gang who were standing in front of the 'Super K' store," Cordero said in his statement.

Cordero faces 16 years in prison when he is sentenced, as a result of a plea agreement.

The three other shootings attributed to the Latin Kings, according to court papers, were on July 30, 2009, when a SSP member was shot in the leg; the Sept. 1, 2009, shooting of another SSP member in the stomach and right arm; and the Oct. 18, 2009, shooting of an unidentified male in the leg.

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Cordero was among the last to be sentenced of the nearly 20 Latin Kings members in the Huntington Station area arrested in 2010 following a joint investigation by the FBI and Suffolk County detectives. The arrests have "crushed" the Latin Kings, jailing almost its entire membership, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

At the time of the initial arrests last year, federal prosecutor Carrie Capwell said, the Latin Kings had "terrorized the community through an ongoing and violent feud with other gangs." As a result of violence in the area, some of it attributed to gang feuds, the Jack Abrams School on Lowndes Avenue was closed.