Members of Notorious MS-13 Gang Indicted in Killings of Teenage Best Friends, 5 Others

The seven slayings covered by the indictments include the deaths of Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas, teenage best friends whose bodies were found feet apart in Brentwood last year

By Greg Cergol

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The bodies of at least five young people, including two teenage best friends, were found in Brentwood over a six-week period last year.

WHAT TO KNOW

• The bodies of at least five young people, including two teenage best friends, were found in Brentwood over a six-week period last year

• Authorities had believed the slayings were connected to MS-13 gang activity, but no arrests had been made in the months-old case until today

• Police have arrested more than 100 known MS-13 gang members on a variety of charges as part of a larger takedown

Authorities will announce the federal indictments of several alleged MS-13 gang members on murder and other charges in connection with the slayings of seven people, including two teenage best friends, in the crime-plagued town of Brentwood, according to a high-ranking police source familiar with the investigation. 

The source told NBC 4 New York that FBI and Suffolk police carried out joint raids at multiple locations known to be connected to the notorious Salvadoran MS-13 gang Thursday morning and arrested at least four people. More arrests were possible.

• Police Step up Fight Against Gang Violence in Brentwood

Additional details are expected to be released at a noon news briefing. The source tells NBC 4 New York the indictments will include charges of murder and other crimes in the deaths of seven people in the small Long Island community, including teenage best friends Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas.

Mickens' brutally beaten body was found on a tree-lined street in Brentwood Sept. 13, a day before her 16th birthday. A day later, the beaten body of Cuevas, her lifelong friend, was discovered in the wooded backyard of a nearby home. Investigators had suspected the young girls -- best friends with a passion for basketball -- were victims of gang violence but the cases had gone unsolved prior to Thursday's development. 

The bodies of Mickens and Cuevas were found during a terrifying six-week period for the community, during which police also discovered the remains of Oscar Acosta, 19, Miguel Garcia-Moran, 15, and 18-year-old Jose Pena-Hernandez. All five were students at Brentwood High School. Acosta and Garcia-Moran had been missing for several months before their bodies were found near Long Island Rail Road tracks Sept. 26. Pena-Hernandez, who was found dead in early October, was a known MS-13 member, officials said.  

Over the last few months, Suffolk authorities have arrested or re-arrested more than 130 MS-13 members on a variety of charges as part of a larger takedown, though none had been charged with the students' killings. Many of the suspects were in the state and federal system already. 

Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini is expected to say Thursday the latest arrests are not the end of the investigation into MS-13, but a milestone in the department's continuing effort to eradicate gang violence. 

The international MS-13 gang originated in California, then spread across the country, with a particularly heavy presence on Long Island, in Queens and in parts of northern New Jersey. Many of its estimated 70,000 members are undocumented immigrants who have been deported after arrests on charges including drug and human trafficking, murder and racketeering. 

Police Step Up Fight Against Gangs in Brentwood

Police on Long Island say they're making progress in the fight against gangs by putting pressure on the streets. Natalie Pasquarella has more from Brentwood on how officers are targeting criminals to rid of gangs for good.

(Published Monday, Jan. 16, 2017)

The group has been blamed for at least 30 killings on Long Island since 2010.