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A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 19 July 2017

Officials describe ‘frenzy of

violence’ in MS-13 gang hits

By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — It was a trap, executed im-
perfectly but with bloody results.
Prosecutors said in a recent court filing that four young
men found slaughtered in a Long Island park last April
were lured to the site by two female associates of the
MS-13 street gang, which was hunting for rivals and
perceived enemies.
Once there, the youths — some still in high school —
were surrounded by more than a dozen gang mem-
bers who attacked them with machetes, knives and
wooden clubs “in a horrific frenzy of violence,” ac-
cording to the court papers obtained by Newsday
(http://nwsdy.li/2taibXf ).
A fifth young man who had accompanied the vic-
tims to the park ran for his life and escaped, the court
memorandum said.
Prosecutors last week quietly charged four people in

In this April 27, 2016 photo, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert departs the federal courthouse the killings but have revealed scant details about the
in Chicago. Federal Bureau of Prisons records on Tuesday, July 18, 2017, show that Hastert, who case. Three of the defendants were named in court
is nearing the end of a 15-month sentence in a hush money case, has been released from a papers unsealed Monday as Alexis Hernandez, Santis
Minnesota federal prison and transferred to a Chicago re-entry facility. Records list his release Leonel Ortiz-Flores and Omar Antonio Villalta. A fourth
date as Aug. 16. defendant’s identity was blacked out. The U.S. Attor-
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) ney’s office would not say whether that person was in

Hastert faces sex-offender treatment custody or still at large.
The April massacre in Central Islip was part of a string
of Long Island killings blamed on MS-13, a deadly
By CARYN ROUSSEAU Hastert was in a halfway lie-detector test to deter- gang with origins in Central America. The deaths have
MICHAEL TARM house or under home con- mine how many times the attracted international attention and led to Congres-
Associated Press finement. 75-year-old Illinois Repub- sional hearings, tweets from the White House and a
CHICAGO (AP) — Dis- His attorneys declined lican sexually abused kids. visit to Long Island from the U.S. attorney general.
graced former U.S. House comment, and the Federal Another common treat- In a letter to the court, obtained by Newsday, fed-
Speaker Dennis Hastert is Bureau of Prisons said in an ment for sex-offenders in- eral prosecutors said the four victims found dead in
far from putting his child- email only that he is now volves a penile plethysmo- April, plus the person who escaped, “were marked for
sex-abuse scandal behind “under the jurisdiction” of graph, which gauges a death merely because they were suspected of disre-
him after being released the Chicago re-entry man- known molester’s physical specting the MS-13 and being rival gang members.”
from federal prison in Min- agement office. reaction to specific im- The two female gang associates had been instructed
nesota where he served a The Illinois Republican was ages, according to former to get the victims to a community park, prosecutors
little over a year for a relat- sentenced to 15 months federal agents who dealt wrote.
ed banking conviction. He in prison in April 2016 in a with child abuse cases. “When the females got to the park, they led the five
now must undergo inten- banking violations case Hastert could potentially individuals to a wooded area ... and sent a text mes-
sive court-ordered sex-of- that revealed he had sex- put himself in legal jeopar- sage of their location to several of the MS-13 mem-
fender treatment designed ually abused teenagers dy if he refuses any of the bers,” the memorandum said.
to ensure he never again while coaching wrestling at tests or doesn’t appear to The victims killed in the ensuing attack included Justin
poses a risk to children. a suburban Chicago high be forthcoming about any Llivicura, 16, of East Patchogue; Jorge Tigre, 18, of Bell-
The Federal Bureau of Pris- school. He was also given instances of abuse, said port; Michael Lopez Banegas, 20, of Brentwood; and
ons confirmed Tuesday that a two-year term of super- Francey Hakes, a former Jefferson Villalobos, 18, of Pompano Beach, Florida,
Hastert was released the vised release after has was special assistant to the U.S. who was on Long Island visiting his cousin Banegas at
day before and transferred out from behind bars. attorney general oversee- the time.
to a Chicago re-entry facil- The treatment Hastert ing Justice Department The victims’ families have denied that any of the men
ity. It wasn’t clear whether faces is likely to include a child-exploitation units.q were in a gang.q