Defendant in gang case tells boyfriend attack survivor 'spilled the beans,' feds say
Leniz Escobar is accused of luring four young men to their deaths in a Central Islip park. Credit: USANYE
The alleged MS-13 associate on trial for luring four young men to their machete deaths inside a Central Islip park in 2017 told her boyfriend after the killings that she was “not so good” because “the person that missed the train spilled the beans … he spilled the beans with the cops” — a reference, prosecutors say, to the lone survivor of the attack speaking to authorities.
Leniz Escobar, 22, of Central Islip, who according to prosecutors later threw her cellphone from a moving vehicle while Suffolk police pursued her, also told her boyfriend — identified as Jeffrey Amador, a high-ranking MS-13 member indicted on murder and racketeering charges — that she had to replace her phone.
“I don’t want to use this phone anymore,” said Escobar in one of two phone call recordings played for the jury Tuesday.
Escobar has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment charging her with murder and racketeering in the April 11, 2017 deaths of Jorge Tigre, 18; Michael Lopez, 20; Jefferson Villalobos, 18; and Justin Llivicura, 16. Elmer Alexander Artiaga-Ruiz, 22, the initial target of the gang, escaped the attack by running from the park and jumping a fence, he previously testified.
Prosecutors allege Escobar, who they said was a “devoted” associate of the gang, lured the five young men to the park to be killed by MS-13 members to earn respect from the gang.
Prosecutors allege Escobar is referring to Artiaga-Ruiz as the person who “missed the train” and “spilled the beans.” Artiaga-Ruiz previously testified that he led police to the bodies after his escape and said Escobar and her friend Keyli Gomez had invited them to smoke weed in the park on the night of the attack. Escobar said on one of the calls: “He already talked. He already told everything.”
Escobar’s attorneys, Jesse Siegel and Keith White, declined to comment on the recordings.
In the phone calls, Escobar also expressed concern about Gomez, who prosecutors said was her co-conspirator, being questioned by police. Escobar said she was not driving — instead using a scooter — and staying away from her home, in an apparent effort to avoid law enforcement.
“They already went to detain her already, too,” Escobar said, in what prosecutors allege is a reference to Gomez.
“The cops?” her boyfriend asked over the phone.
“Yup. For questioning,” Escobar answered.
The two young women stayed on the phone for hours apparently rehearsing their statements to police, Escobar said.
“She already knows what she has to say,” said Escobar, adding, “I’ve been talking to her all morning. We start talking, like, for three hours, saying and saying, all over, all over, all over, all over. Yeah, I talk to her before. We talk and everything what, exactly what we have to … she already knows what she has to say.”
Gomez, however, eventually cooperated with law enforcement and is scheduled to testify against Escobar on Wednesday.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
