Three ‘gang members’ indicted for hacking four young men to death in New York park

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Tattoos identify a prisoner at a maximum-security jail in El Salvador as an MS-13 gang member. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:35pm, 18 Jul 2017Updated: 2:35pm, 18 Jul 2017

Three alleged members of the MS-13 street gang have been charged in the murders of four young men found hacked to death in a New York park in April, according to an indictment that was quietly unsealed Monday.

The three suspects were arraigned Thursday in US District Court on Long Island, according to the lawyer for one of the men. Their next court appearance is likely to be in September.

The indictment identified the defendants in the Long Island case as Alexis Hernandez, Santis Leonel Ortiz-Flores and Omar Antonio Villata. Lawyers for Ortiz-Flores and Hernandez declined to comment; the name of Villata’s lawyer was not immediately available. All three suspects identified in the indictment are in custody.

A city offical holds a notice at a news conference offering a US$25,000 “fast cash reward” for information that leads to an arrest in the killings of four men on April 13, 2017 in Central Islip, New York. Photo: AFP

A federal prosecutor declined to comment, saying any information released about the case would jeopardise an ongoing investigation. An FBI spokeswoman also declined to comment.

Four young men between the ages of 16 and 20 were found hacked to death in a brutal massacre that authorities blamed on the MS-13 gang.