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Jhonny Contreras, age 28, of Brentwood, a member of the Brentwood Locos Salvatruchas clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 17 in federal court in Central Islip to racketeering and related firearms charges in connection with his participation in three murders, said the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
According to court filings and statements by the defendant at the guilty plea proceeding:
Contreras participated in the murders of Derrick Mayes and Keenan Russell over the Memorial Day weekend in 2013.
On May 26, 2013, Contreras and another MS-13 member armed themselves with a .25 caliber handgun and 20-gauge shotgun and drove around Central Islip in a stolen minivan looking for rival gang members to kill, court documents show.
While on Wilson Boulevard, Contreras and his co-conspirator observed Mayes, an African-American man, who they did not know and wrongly assumed to be a member of the Bloods street gang because he was wearing an article of red clothing, according to court filings.
The MS-13 members approached Mayes, and shot him multiple times, killing him. The following night, Contreras and several other MS-13 members, again drove around Central Islip in the stolen minivan and other vehicles, looking for rival gang members to kill, and spotted several African-Americans, including Russell, outside of a house party on Acorn Street, the US Attorney's Office said.
The MS-13 members approached Russell, who they did not know and again mistakenly assumed to be a member of the Bloods, and opened fire with the weapons, killing him, court documents said.
In addition, Contreras admitted during his guilty plea to participating in the murder of Cesar Rivera-Vasquez on Nov. 19, 2015, in Babylon.
Rivera-Vasquez was murdered by Contreras and other MS-13 members because they suspected him of belonging to a rival Mexican gang, Raza Loca. On the night of the murder, Contreras and his co-conspirators saw Rivera-Vasquez at a deli located close to the Babylon Long Island Railroad station, court documents said.
Contreras and the other MS-13 members convinced the victim to leave with them to smoke marijuana and brought him to an isolated area behind a nearby baseball field, court documents show.
The gang members, who were armed with knives and a baseball bat, told the victim to take off his shirt so they could observe a tattoo they believed signified the victim’s membership in the rival gang.
After observing the tattoo, Contreras and the other MS-13 members attacked Rivera-Vasquez, beating him with the bat and stabbing him repeatedly with knives before one of the co-conspirators took one of the knives and cut his throat, officials said.
After Rivera-Vasquez was dead, the MS-13 members buried his body near a large mound of dirt, and Rivera-Vasquez’s body was not discovered until April 2018.
When sentenced, Contreras faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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