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Jose Suarez, an associate of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside (Sailors) clique of MS-13, was sentenced to life in prison in Central Islip federal court after being convicted of the January 2017 murder of Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla and the shooting of a female employee at a Central Islip deli.
Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said that on Jan. 30, 2017, a member of the Sailors clique saw Alvarado-Bonilla inside El Campesino Deli in Central Islip.
Believing that Alvarado-Bonilla was a rival gang member, several members of the Sailors clique plotted to kill him, with Suarez driving two other MS-13 members to a street near the deli.
One of those members, Mario Aguilar-Lopez entered the deli, approached the Alvarado-Bonilla from behind, and shot him multiple times, killing him.
DuCharme said that one of the bullets traveled through Alvarado-Bonilla’s head, striking an employee at the deli who was standing directly in front of him. Aguilar-Lopez ran out of the deli and to the car where Suarez was waiting, and the two fled the scene.
The deli employee survived a gunshot wound to the chest.
Aguilar-Lopez pleaded guilty to the shooting in 2018 and is currently awaiting sentencing.
“Mr. Suarez's life sentence in federal prison is simply another brick in the wall we've built around MS-13 to stop this violent gang from terrorizing people on Long Island,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said. “Agents and detectives assigned to the FBI's Long Island Gang Task Force, whose work continues to this day, have put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to dismantle this gang.”
DuCharme also noted that Suarez was also sentenced for a December 2016 assault outside Super Taco in Brentwood, which left one man with serious injuries. Those attacks stemmed from the belief that they had disrespected MS-13.
“The relentless efforts of the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force and the Eastern District of New York have never wavered in holding MS-13 gang members accountable for their violent, senseless crimes,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart added.
“Thanks to their dedication, Suarez will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder and assaults that he committed,” she continued. “This sentence sends a message that our department along with our local and federal law enforcement partners remain determined to dismantle this transnational gang.”
MS-13’s leadership is based in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, but the gang has thousands of members across the United States, comprised primarily of immigrants from Central America. With numerous cliques, MS-13 is the largest and most violent street gang on Long Island.
Since 2003, hundreds of MS-13 members, including dozens of clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in the Eastern District of New York. A majority of those MS-13 members have been convicted on federal racketeering charges for participating in murders, attempted murders, and assaults.
Officials said that since 2010, prosecutors have obtained indictments charging MS-13 members with carrying out more than 60 murders in the district, and has convicted dozens of MS-13 leaders and members in connection with those murders
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