MS-13 Gang Member From Long Island Pleads Guilty In Connection To Pair Of 2016 Murders: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — Kevin Cuevas Del Cid, also known as “Creeper,” “Malcriado,” “Sombra,” “Vinky” and “Dabura,” a member of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside (Sailors) clique of MS-13, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to racketeering charges in connection with his participation of the May 2016 murder of Kerin Pineda and the October 2016 murder of Javier Castillo, both of whom were killed in Freeport, federal prosecutors announced.

According to court filings and statements by Del Cid, 25, of Freeport, at the guilty plea proceeding, he participated in the murder of 20-year-old Kerin Pineda, who was killed because of his suspected membership in the 18th Street gang.

Specifically, in May 2016, Del Cid and other MS-13 members devised a plan where Del Cid created a fake Facebook profile of a young female to communicate with Pineda in order to lure Pineda out to be killed, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

On May 21, 2016, Pineda went to a secluded wooded area near the Merrick-Freeport border believing that he was meeting the young female he had been communicating with on Facebook, who was, in fact, Del Cid. When Pineda arrived, he was surrounded and violently attacked by Del Cid and the other MS-13 members, each of whom took turns hacking and slashing him with machetes, prosecutors said.

“Today, the defendant pleaded guilty to the brutal killings of two young people, whose murders demonstrate the MS-13’s well-established obsession with committing extreme acts of violence and complete disregard for human life,” said Joseph Nocella, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District.

Del Cid also pleaded guilty to the murder of 15-year-old Javier Castillo, who, like Pineda, was killed because the MS-13 suspected him of being a member of the 18th Street gang, Nocella said.

Del Cid and the other MS-13 members took Castillo to an isolated marsh area along the water in Cow Meadow Park, in Freeport, where they attacked and killed him, taking turns hacking him with a machete, prosecutors said.

“We have no tolerance for gang violence in Nassau County and we will never stop working to protect our citizens from these violent elements, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.

Del Cid also faces charges involving conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, Nocella said.