FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 1, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 12
police beat COMPILED BY BILL PARRY AND ROBERT POZARYCKI
101st Precinct
Far Rockaway and Bayswater
Four MS-13 gang members indicted
in murder of Far Rockaway
mother found in car: Feds
Four MS-13 gang members were charged
Tuesday, March 22, in the brutal murder of a
Far Rockaway mother last April, according to
federal prosecutors.
Anander Henriquez-Avila, 29, Allan Lopez-
Villeda, 23, Jose Sarmiento-Valeriano, 22 and
Rigel Yohario Velasquez-Mancia, 21, all of Far
Rockaway, are accused of killing Nazareth
Claure, 31, on April 11, 2021.
Th e mother of an 8-year-old son was allegedly
beaten over several hours with a baseball bat
and hacked by a machete, according to federal
prosecutors. Her body recovered from the trunk
of a car two days later.
According to charges, in the early morning
hours of April 14, 2021, offi cers from the 101st
Precinct spotted the men placing a large object
inside the trunk of a Nissan Altima sedan
parked in front of Foam Place in Far Rockaway.
Th e men then piled into the sedan and began to
drive away. Th e offi cers followed and conducted
a car stop with agents from Homeland Security
Investigations in the vicinity of Nassau Expressway
and Bayview Avenue. EMS responded to
the scene and declared Claure dead.
Th e four gang members are awaiting their
arraignment and were named in a superseding
indictment that was unsealed in federal court
in Central Islip, Long Island on Tuesday, March
22, charging 11 MS-13 gang members with
racketeering conspiracy.
“Th e signifi cant federal charges in the superseding
indictment, including the brutal murder of a
mother whose body was wrapped in trash bags,
underscores the cruel depravity and senseless
violence of the MS-13 gang,” U.S. Attorney Breon
Peace said. “With this indictment and additional
arrests, this offi ce has taken another step in seeking
justice for the murder victim and her family, and
we will not rest until the threat of the MS-13 gang
is eliminated for good from our communities.”
Peace thanked the Queens District Attorney’s
offi ce for their work on the investigations. Th e
four gang members were indicted in Queens
Supreme Court last May and now face federal
charges in connection with Claure’s murder.
“As alleged, the savagery and brutality of the
crimes committed by some of the individuals
named in the indictment is beyond comprehension
and involves the murder of a young woman,
who was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed
in the trunk of a car like an object instead of a
young mother and human being,” said Homeland
Security Investigations Special Agent-in-
Charge Ricky J. Patel. “Today’s superseding
indictment and arrests send a clear message
that violent gang members who commit such
deplorable and cowardly crimes against humanity
will be tracked down and held accountable
for their actions.”
Since 2010, the Eastern District of New York
has obtained indictments charging MS-13
gang members with carrying out more than 60
murders and has convicted more than 100 of
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
the gang’s leaders and members in connection
with those murders.
“Today’s announcement highlights the
NYPD’s commitment to working with all of
its law enforcement partners to dismantle
transnational organizations like MS-13 which
routinely use violence and intimidation to prey
on vulnerable communities,” NYPD Commissioner
Keechant Sewell said. “By contributing
our unique capabilities to this joint eff ort, the
NYPD continues to remove vicious gang members
from the streets of New York and protect
the people we serve from unthinkable harm
alleged in this indictment.”
115th Precinct
Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst and
North Corona
Corona man gets 15 years for
killing a Jackson Heights mother
of three with random shot: DA
Corona resident Issam Elabbar on Friday,
March 25, was sentenced to 15 years in prison
for fi ring an illegal gun in the middle of the
night that killed a Jackson Heights mother of
three children in September 2020, according to
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Elabbar, 32, of 41st Avenue in Corona,
pleaded guilty in December to manslaughter
in the second degree and criminal possession
of a weapon in the second degree before Queens
Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise.
According to court records, shortly before
1 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2020, Elabbar was in the
roadway on 34th Avenue near 92nd Street when
he fi red a single shot over his shoulder. At the
time, Bertha Arriaga was standing near her
third-story apartment’s bedroom window. Th e
bullet ripped through the window and pierced
the victim’s carotid artery in her neck.
Th e 43-year-old married mother of three fell
to the fl oor, bleeding profusely from the single
gunshot wound.
As she gasped for air, the victim’s then-
14-year-old son heard the noise, walked into
the bedroom, turned on the light and saw his
mother in a pool of blood. Arriaga’s husband
Javier heard his son shouting and performed
CPR on his wife in an eff ort to save her life, but
the injury was fatal, according to court records.
“Th e victim of this senseless crime was in her
home, a place where one would expect to be safe
from harm,” Katz said. “Tragically, the woman’s
oldest son discovered his mother gasping for
air and bleeding to death. In pleading guilty,
the defendant has admitted to fi ring randomly
without regard for human life. He has now been
sentenced by the court for his criminal actions.”
Justice Aloise sentenced Elabbar to 15 years
in prison, to be followed by fi ve years’ postrelease
supervision.
107th Precinct
Fresh Meadows, Cunningham
Heights and Hilltop Village
Former St. John’s lacrosse
captain convicted of stabbing
teammate at Fresh Meadows
frat house in 2019: DA
A former captain of the St. John’s University
lacrosse team was convicted by a jury of assault
in the fi rst degree for the stabbing of a former
teammate in 2019, Queens District Attorney
Melinda Katz announced Friday, March 25.
Matthew Stockfeder, 23, of Melville, Long
Island, was found guilty on March 24 in the
near-fatal stabbing of Justin Corpolongo at an
off -campus frat house in Fresh Meadows.
According to trial testimony, in the early
morning hours of Oct. 22, 2019, the victim
was trying to sleep in the home he shared with
Stockfeder and other members of the lacrosse
team. Th e then-23-year-old victim complained
about the noise from an ongoing party and explained
he had to work early the next day. Even
aft er agreeing to relocate the party, Stockfeder
was angry about having to leave his own house.
According to the trial records, both men
argued back and forth over a group text message.
Aft er being called a loser by the defendant,
the victim went to the new party site to
confront Stockfeder. Th e two men exchanged
words and the defendant appeared to take a
stance and raise his arms as if he was going to
strike his housemate. Th at’s when the victim
reacted and punched Stockfeder, who fell to
the ground. Other students grabbed the victim
and that’s when the defendant stood up, pulled
Photo via St. John’s University, inset via RedStormSports.com
Former St. John’s lacrosse captain Matthew
Stockfeder was found guilty in the 2019 stabbing
of a teammate in Fresh Meadows.
out a knife and stabbed the victim twice in his
stomach.
EMS rushed Corpolongo to NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital/Queens, where he underwent
lifesaving surgery to repair a laceration to his
small intestine.
“Th e victim in this case was nearly eviscerated
by the defendant aft er an argument escalated
to a physical altercation,” Katz said. “As
others broke up the fi ght, the defendant pulled
out a kitchen knife and plunged it twice into
his teammate’s abdomen. Aft er listening to the
evidence, the jury rendered a guilty verdict.”
Th e incident shocked the St. John’s campus
at the time.
“I was shocked by what happened,” Santiago
Mayorga Beltran, a sophomore business major
at the time, told QNS aft er the stabbing. “Th e
lacrosse captain is supposed to embody some
of the values here from all of the student body,
like the captains for the teams to really try to
live by these values and value more their future.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Knopf, who presided at trial, set sentencing for
April 7. At that time, Stockfeder faces up to 25
years in prison.
QNS fi le photo
Corona resident Issam Elabbar was sentenced to 15
years in prison for fi ring the random shot that killed
a Jackson Heights mother of three inside her thirdfl
oor apartment in Jackson Heights.
/WWW.QNS.COM
/RedStormSports.com
