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28-year-old Hempstead resident Carlos Portillo, who also goes by “Pikachu” and “Solitario”, was sentenced Wednesday, April 5 after an earlier trial found him guilty of second-degree murder of a teen at the Massapequa Preserve, the Nassau County DA announced.
Portillo, the alleged second-in-command of the Indios Locos Salvatrucha clique of MS-13, instructed other gang members to kill Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales, age 19.
Espantzay-Gonzales was a target of the gang for wearing the wrong color at a known gang location, the DA claimed.
Upon an order from the clique's leader, authorities said that Portillo organized gang members and provided them with a car, a gun, and a machete. He also reportedly instructed the other members on how and where to kill Espantzay-Gonzales.
One of the gang members allegedly pretended to be friends with Espantzay-Gonzales, and on January 28, 2017, the teen was lured to the Massapequa Preserve under the promise of sex and marijuana.
Four MS-13 members allegedly hacked Espantzay-Gonzales to death with a machete, shot him in the face, and left his body under branches and brush, where his body wasn’t found for nearly two months.
Portillo “orchestrated the execution of 19-year-old Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales, providing weapons to murder him and sealing his fate,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said. “ My prosecutors…were able to hold this defendant accountable for his crimes and we will continue to use our combined resources to rid Nassau County of this dangerous gang.”
He was convicted Thursday, January 26 after a weeklong trial and about three hours of jury deliberation.
Other MS-13 gang members have been sentenced or have cases pending. These include:
- Kevin Granados-Corea, AKA “Lonely,” was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison;
- Antonio Cullal, AKA “Duke,” was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison;
- Raul Ponce, AKA “Shadow,” was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison;
- Roberto Abrego Reyes, whose case is pending;
- Laura Campos, whose case is pending;
- Gerson Stanley Juarez, whose case is pending.
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