Suspected MS-13 Gang Members Charged With Spate Of Queens Murders

QUEENS, NY — Ten suspected MS-13 gang members face federal murder and racketeering charges for a series of killings in Queens, including a fatal shooting last year on a Jackson Heights subway platform that was caught on video, according to newly unsealed court records released Thursday.

The murders date back to April 2018, when 17-year-old Andy Peralta was beaten, strangled and stabbed to death in Kissena Park in Queens because a suspected MS-13 associate believed him to be a member of the rival Latin Kings gang, federal prosecutors said.

As part of the federal case, three men arrested in connection with last February's fatal shooting on the 90th Street-Elmhurst Avenue 7-train platform now face upgraded charges of murder in-aid-of racketeering for the slaying of suspected 18th Street gang member Abel Mosso.

The charges also encompass the fatal shooting of Victor Alvarenga near his Flushing home on Nov. 4, 2018, and a plot to murder an MS-13 member who didn't follow orders to kill a rival gang member, according to court records.

“The murders and crimes of violence allegedly committed by these defendants are trademark MS-13 offenses – cold-blooded, senseless and brutally violent – and pose a grave danger to the residents of our communities," U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said in a statement.

Named in the federal charges filed May 5 are Marlon Saracay-Lopez, also known as Plocky; Juan Amaya-Ramirez, also known as Cadaver; Ramiro Gutierrez, also known as Cara de Malo; Victor Lopez, also known as Curioso; Tito Martinez-Alvarenga, also known as Imprudente; Jairo Martinez-Alvarenga, also known as Colmillo; Emerson Martinez-Lara, also known as Fugitivo; Douglas Melgar-Suriano, also known as Clemencia; Victor Ramirez, also known as Frijolito; and Ismael Santos-Novoa, also known as Profe and “Travieso.

Federal prosecutors say the 10 men, all except one of whom are Queens residents, are members of the transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13, which is active in Queens and on Long Island and ties back to El Salvador.

If convicted, six of the accused men face mandatory sentences of life in prison and are eligible for the death penalty.