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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 lowlevel
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
Vol. 7, No. 38 48 total pages
/QNS.COM
