MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty To Role In Brutal LI Slaying

MASSAPEQUA, NY — An MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty to murder charges for his role in the 2017 killing of 19-year-old Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales in the Massapequa Park Preserve.

Kevin Granados-Coreas, 23, a.k.a Lonely, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy. He will be sentenced on May 13, and is expected to get 23 years to life in prison.

“Kevin Granados-Coreas worked with Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales and befriended him at a restaurant at the Green Acres Mall. He then convinced the young man to join him in the Massapequa Park Preserve to smoke marijuana and hang out with girls,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “The defendant marked the victim for death by telling his fellow MS-13 members that Espantzay-Gonzales was their ‘enemy.’ Once inside the park, the victim was mercilessly hacked to death and his body was dragged to nearby brush.”

Espantzay-Gonzales was reported missing on Jan. 31, 2017. On March 23 that year, his body was found by a person walking their dog in the Massapequa Park Preserve.

According to Smith, Espantzay-Gonzales was lured to the park on Jan. 28, 2017 by Granados-Coreas and others with the promise of sex and drugs. Once there, Granados-Coreas and other gang members Antonio Cullal, Raul Ponce and Gerson Stanley Juarez attacked Espantzay-Gonzales, hacking him to death with machetes. They left his body covered with tree branches, leaves and brush.

Granados-Coreas was arrested in Hempstead on Aug. 15, 2017. Cullal was sentenced to 20 years to life, while Ponce was sentenced to 32 years to life.

Donnelly said that Carlos Portillo and Roberto Abrego-Reyes ordered the murder because Espantzay-Gonzales was a perceived enemy of MS-13. The cases against them are pending.