'Hot Boys' Gang Member Gets Life For Brutal Wash Heights Slay: Feds

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A "Hot Boys" gang member who murdered a Washington Heights man in front of his terrified wife was sentenced to life in prison, federal prosecutors announced this week.

Edwin Cortorreal, 36, was sentenced Wednesday, months after a jury found him guilty of killing Kelly Diaz in 2006, said Manhattan U. S. Attorney Damian Williams.

“Edwin Cortorreal was a member of a violent robbery crew that terrorized the Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan," Williams said.

“Simply robbing his victims was not enough...He was willing to kill them to make sure he got away with his crimes."

Cortorreal was a member of the “Hot Boys” violent robbery crew, which burglarized and sold drugs in Washington Heights from at least 2006 to 2013, Williams said.

In October 2006, Cortorreal and four crew members broke into Diaz’s apartment in the middle of the night, duct-taped him to a chair and threw his wife to the ground, prosecutors said.

Cortorreal shot Diaz, then 24, point-blank in the head while his wife watched, Williams said.

Less than a year later, Cortorreal planned to commit another deadly robbery to avoid leaving witnesses behind.

Cortorreal, a Dominican national was extradited from the Dominican Republic in 2020, said Williams.

He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering and use of a firearm resulting in death in April, court records show.

“Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement partners and the prosecutors of this Office," Williams said, "Cortorreal did not get away with this crime.”