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Gang members charged in murder
Jamaica trio who brutally killed a teen in Alley Pond Park allegedly part of MS-13
Detectives combed Alley Pond Park in May 2017 after a birdwatcher found a decomposing teenager’s body. File photo/TimesLedger
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Federal agents have
charged three reputed
street gang members on
Sept. 12 with the May 2017
murder of a 16-year-old
boy stabbed more than two
dozen times in Alley Pond
Park in Bayside.
Authorities said the
trio brutally murdered
St. Albans resident Julio
Vasquez, 16, of 166th Street.
A birdwatcher discovered
Vasquez’s decomposing remains
on May 21, 2017 inside
the park, off the intersection
of 76th Avenue and Cloverdale
Boulevard.
Jamaica residents Josue
Leiva, 22, and Luis Rivas, 24,
and Briarwood’s Melvi Amador
Rios, 28, now federal
charges of murder, attempted
murder, murder conspiracy,
racketeering, robbery
and firearms charges.
U.S. Attorney Richard
Donoghue stated on Sept.
12 that the murder plot
was one of “multiple murder
conspiracies” in which
they allegedly participated.
Vasquez’s death was the result
of “a kill-or-be-killed
plot” in which Vasquez was
ordered stabbed because he
did not carry out “a lethal
order himself.”
“The mindless violence
embodied by MS-13 presents
extreme danger to our
communities and underscores
the resolve of this
office, together with our
law enforcement partners,
to eradicate the gang,”
Donoghue said.
Federal prosecutors said
that, in early 2017, Amador-
Rios, acting as the leader of
Centrales Locos Salvatruchas
(CLS), a clique within
MS-13, ordered the murder
of a low-level member of MS-
13 suspected of being associated
with a rival gang.
Later, authorities said,
Amador-Rios suspected that
another gang member had
tipped off the intended target,
and ordered his murder
as well. He assigned Vasquez
to the task, but prosecutors
said Vasquez failed to carry
out the order.
The indictment charges
that Vasquez was lured
into the wooded area of Alley
Pond Park, where Leiva
and Rivas stabbed him
numerous times.
The city’s Medical Examiner
conducted an autopsy
which determined that
Vasquez had sustained 28
stab wounds. It was estimated
that his body had been in
the park for up to a week before
being found.
The indictment further
charges Amador-Rios and
Rivas with participating
in a Jan. 8, 2017 armed robbery
at a money transfer
business in Jamaica, during
which they pistol-whipped
an employee.
Donoghue said the three
defendants will be arraigned
at a later date. All
three face life in prison
if convicted.
“This case provides an
illustration of extreme violence
of gangs and their
members,” Police Commissioner
James O’Neill said.
“And it’s why the NYPD
and its law enforcement
partners aggressively pursue
those who commit violent
crimes and put safe
communities at risk.”
Vol. 28 No. 38 48 total pages
/QNS.COM
