Leader of MS-13 gang pleads guilty in case involving eight murders in New York

A member of the MS-13 gang pleaded guilty in New York to a series of charges related to eight murders in the state, and is now expected to be sentenced to several decades in prison.

Alexi Saenz entered a plea in a federal court in Central Islip and will hear his sentence in January of next year. Speaking through a lawyer, he admitted to ordering or approving the killing of rival gang members and other people who had clashed with members of his gang clique. He mainly answered a series of yes or no questions from the judge about the plea deal and the crimes he admitted to.

Prosecutors have withdrawn their intent to seek the death penalty in the case, with him now facing between 40 and 70 years in prison.

Saenz was indicted in 2017 in the Eastern District of New York, and eight other gang members were already charged in 2020 for six murders and other crimes in Long Island, CBS News reported. His brother, Jairo Saenz, also faces pending charges.

MS-13 operates in the U.S. and different Central American countries. The Department of Justice has highlighted that the gang is "notorious for its use of violence to achieve its objectives."

The gang is largely connected with El Salvador, where the gang has experienced a massive crackdown since President Nayib Bukele took office. A March report by InSight crime highlighted that the country saw a 69.2% decrease in its homicide rate compared to the previous year, clocking in at 2.4 per 100,000, the lowest in Latin America. The country had over 100 murders per 100,000 people in 2015.

"The historic lows come as the Bukele government continues a ruthless crackdown against the MS13 and Barrio 18 street gangs. The government has arrested 70,000 people — over 1% of the country's population of 6.3 million — since the controversial crackdown began in early 2022, effectively wiping out gang activity in the process," reads a passage of the report.