BY BILL PARRY
An alleged MS-13 associate
from Elmhurst was indicted
for murder in the notorious
murder of a 17-year-old in
Flushing’s Kissena Park,
according to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Eastern District
of New York.
A superseding indictment
was returned Thursday, March
25, in Brooklyn federal court
charging Oscar Flores-Mejia,
21, with murder and conspiracy
to commit murder in connection
with the 2018 killing of
Queens teenager Andy Peralta.
“After allegedly helping to
torture and murder the teenage
victim, the defendant
leaned over his lifeless body
and displayed the MS-13 hand
sign, openly revealing his presence
at the scene and linking
MS-13 to this horrific crime,”
Acting U.S. Attorney Mark J.
Lesko said. “This office and
its federal, state and local law
enforcement partners will not
rest until the senseless brutality
and violence of MS-13 has
been eliminated and those responsible
for the victim’s cruel
and cold-blooded murder in
Kissena Park have been held to
account.”
According to court filings,
Peralta was lured into Kissena
Park on the evening of April 23,
2018, where he was ambushed
in a wooded area by Flores-Mejia
and two others. Peralta was
believed to be a member of the
18th Street gang. The victim
had a tattoo of a crown on his
chest which the defendant mistakenly
believed to be a symbol
of a rival gang. Peralta was
repeatedly slashed, stabbed,
beaten and strangled.
“The heinous details of the
Flores-Mejia case and his alleged
involvement in the ruthless
murder of a teen in 2018
is on par with MS-13’s core
values of extreme violence and
control,” Homeland Security
TIMESLEDGER | Q 4 NS.COM | APRIL 2-APRIL 8, 2021
Investigations Special Agentin
Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh
said. “Transnational criminal
street gangs like MS-13 serve
only to terrorize our communities
and prey upon our most
vulnerable youth who are often
left with little choice, join the
gang to face the consequences.
This unfair choice ends one of
two ways, death or jail. In facing
this threat, HSI continues
to work with its federal and local
law enforcement partners
to arrest and prosecute those
who commit senseless violence
while simultaneously working
with our communities to offer
a better option, a chance for a
future.”
The charges are the latest in
a series of federal prosecutions
by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Eastern District of New
York targeting members of MS-
13, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha,
and its leadership in
El Salvador and Honduras. The
gang has thousands of members
Federal prosecutors have indicted a 21-year-old Elmhurst man in
the infamous 2018 MS-13 murder in Kissena Park.
Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce for the Eastern District of New York
across the U.S. comprised
mainly of immigrants from
Central America.
Flores-Mejia was arrested
on a criminal complaint in February
and he will be arraigned
at a later date.
“The federal indictment announced
today answers for an
unspeakably violent crime and
sends a message that gangs like
La Mara Salvatrucha can never
be tolerated,” Police Commissioner
Dermot Shea said.
“I commend our NYPD detectives,
our law enforcement partners
and the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Eastern District
of New York for bringing this
important case.”
Feds indict alleged MS-13 member
in brutal 2018 murder of Queens
teenager in Flushing’s Kissena Park
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