MS-13 Leader Guilty In Teen's 2017 Queens Stabbing Murder: Feds

QUEENS, NY — An MS-13 leader was found guilty of ordering a hit that left a teen brutally stabbed to death in a wooded Queens park, prosecutors said.

A federal jury found Melvi Amador-Rios guilty of murder in-aid-of-racketeering and a slew of other charges Wednesday after a three-week trial, authorities said.

Amador-Rios, 32, led the Centrales Locos Salvatruchas clique of MS-13 behind a wave of violence in Queens, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

"With today's verdict, an extremely dangerous MS-13 gang leader aptly nicknamed 'Letal,' or 'Lethal,' has been brought to justice for his murderous racketeering crimes and now faces a mandatory life sentence,” Peace said in a statement.

Prosecutors contended that Amador-Rios in 2016 ordered Julio Vasquez, 16, to carry out a hit on a fellow low-level MS-13 member who had associated with a rival gang.

When Vazquez failed to murder the gang member, Amador-Rios ordered him to be killed, authorities said. Two MS-13 members lured him to Alley Pond Park in May 2017, where they fatally stabbed him more than 30 times, prosecutors said.

The two gang members — Josue Leiva and Luis Rivas — pleaded guilty to murder in July and await sentencing, authorities said.

Amador-Rios was also convicted of attempted murder in connection to another 16-year-old boy, whom he believed to be part of the rival 18th Street gang in 2016, prosecutors said. Three MS-13 members beat the boy and shot him in the head, authorities said.

The boy, who was spared being shot a second time after the gun malfunctioned, survived but was permanently paralyzed, prosecutors said. The gang trio all pleaded guilty to charges in connection to the attempted murder.