Accused MS-13 leader says ‘I’m suffering’ due to jail conditions: ‘I’m a human being’
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An accused MS-13 gang leader known as “Reaper” has complained that the conditions of his detainment in Nassau County jail are causing him “suffering,” according to NewsDay.
Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, who has been identified by prosecutors as the east coast leader of MS-13, told a judge he’s being treated unfairly in jail.
“Discrimination,” Corea Diaz told acting State Supreme Court Justice Patricia Harrington last week. “I’m suffering in this county. They call me ‘El Chapo.’ Die, scary guy.”
MS-13 has been responsible for at least 25 deaths in Nassau and Suffolk counties since 2016.
More about ‘Reaper’
Corea Diaz was arrested in Maryland in January on felony drug charges and extradited to Nassau County, New York, in April.
He was one of 17 people indicted in January as part of a large-scale effort by law enforcement to weaken the gang on the east coast. Corea Diaz is thought to report directly to MS-13’s leaders in El Salvador.
Corea Diaz has been charged with drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit murder, and faces up to 25 years in prison.
When he came before the judge, however, Corea Diaz tried to emphasize a different aspect of his personality: family man.
“I’m a human being,” Corea Diaz said through a translator. “I have a family. I have children. … I’m not able to talk to them. It’s about time that I speak to them because when I get deported, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to speak to them again.”
What are his specific complaints?
Corea Diaz’s attorney, Scott Gross, claims that the conditions are “unbearable” and that Corea Diaz has been kept in his cell 23 hours per day and is only given “limited access to a phone.”
Harrington said she would look into the conditions of Corea Diaz’s housing to make sure there was good reason for the style of his detention, although she said she didn’t have any control over where he was housed. She also said that he should have phone access, and that she would look into that.
Corea Diaz is currently in plea negotiations with the district attorney’s office after initially pleading not guilty to the charges against him.
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