Reward Offered As Deadly MS-13 Gang Orders Long Island Cops Shot

LONG ISLAND, NY — Law enforcement is on high alert — and has offered a hefty reward — after discovering "credible" information that the deadly MS-13 street gang has issued chilling orders for members to assassinate police officers on Long Island.

The MS-13 gang has sent out a battle cry, stating it was time to "take back streets ... and take out a cop."

MS-13 is a brutal street gang that has set up deadly cartels marked by indiscriminate killing in major cities and small towns across the United States — including an escalating stronghold on Long Island, where sleepy towns have been the scene of blood-soaked murders and machete violence.

A $25,000 reward has been offered by Suffolk County Crime Stoppers for information that leads to an arrest in connection with threats to harm police officers.

The Nassau County Police Department was laser-focused Friday with an intelligence bulletin in mind that was issued about the threat to law officers; on Wednesday, the Hempstead Police Department reported receiving information from a credible informant stating that MS-13 was "looking to shoot a cop in the Hempstead area."

Police said they were looking for a tall, light-skinned Hispanic man with tattoos of three dots next to his eye. He reportedly told the informant that police had been making too many arrests and it was time to "take the streets back and take out (shoot) a cop like we do in El Salvador," police said.

Any member of MS-13 had permission to carry out the attack, the informant reportedly said.

The Suffolk County Police Department said it was aware of "credible threats of violence that MS-13 is prepared to harm a police officer in retaliation for gang arrests." The department has taken necessary precautions to protect its officers, officials said in a release.

"While the Suffolk County Police Department takes this threat seriously, we will not be deterred in our mission by threats by gang members," the release said. "Our commitment in bringing gang members and their associates who commit crimes to justice continues to be a top priority."

Police were warned to safeguard personal information, especially on social media. "It is imperative that members of the department take these threats seriously and adapt their work habits and lifestyles accordingly," the Nassau County Police's bulletin said Thursday.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder issued a statement on the potential violence: "I will not tolerate any threats against my officers and the Nassau County Police Department will continue to protect our residents and communities."

Residents, he said, should call 911 immediately if they see or hear anything suspicious regarding any threats.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa — the red-beret wearing crime fighter who has fought violence in New York City for years with volunteers patrols who carry no weapons —was skeptical about the alleged threat. "I highly doubt it," he said. "The feds just arrested a key 'shot caller.'"

On Thursday, the highest-ranking member of the East Coast cliques of MS-13 was arraigned in Nassau County on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and trafficking drugs, authorities said. His arrest was a major blow to the gang, authorities say.

Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, aka Reaper, 35, of Laurel, Maryland, was arraigned in Nassau County on Thursday before Acting Supreme Court Justice Patricia Harrington on three counts of operating as a major trafficker and five counts of second-degree conspiracy. If convicted of the top charge against him, Diaz faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

Sliwa said Diaz was brought him from the beltway outside of Washington, D.C. "Feds can't have it both ways," Sliwa said. "They said in court that MS-13 gang members had to get permission from the 'Reaper' to commit various crimes, including murder. All of a sudden, having no contact with the Reaper, they're going to hunt down and shoot cops?"

Instead, Sliwa said he believes law enforcement will "use it as a reason to crack down on MS-13 locally, so that they can justify those raids," he said.

A Nationwide Spotlight On Gang Brutality

After brutal murders of four teens shocked the nation and the world, President Donald Trump spoke in Brentwood last year about the insidious MS-13 gang that's been terrorizing local communities across Long Island in the county.

And in his speech, he promised to rid the gang-ravaged communities of Long Island of the "animals" on their streets.

Long Island has been hit hard, with 17 "beautiful young lives" murdered since Jan. 16 on Long Island alone , including two teen girls, he said during his speech.

"They butchered those little girls. They kidnap. They extort. They rape and they rob. They prey on children. They shouldn't be here," Trump said.

MS-13 beats with victims with clubs, slashes them with knives and machetes, he said.

"They're Animals"

"They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields. They're animals, Trump said.

Days after the gruesome discovery of four bodies in Central Islip on Long Island — the four young men are believed to have been victims of the deadly MS-13 street gang — the spotlight has been steadily shining on Suffolk County as lawmakers, educators and a horrified public try to unravel MS-13 and seek answers on how to stem the tide of brutality.

MS-13, which was formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s by immigrants fleeing El Salvador's civil war, is known for its bloody violence, including machete attacks and home invasions.

But for all the public outcry, for those directly impacted by the quadruple homicide in Central Islip, the heartbreak is deeply personal.

The four young men found dead on the night of April 12 at Central Islip Recreation Village Park suffered trauma from a sharp-edged instrument. They were only 16, 18, 18 and 20 years-old; their lives just beginning.

One of the victims, Jorge Tigre, a Bellport High School honor student, was not a gang member and allegedly became a target after he refused to associate with gang members following the murder of two girls in Brentwood, Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas, who were murdered in September, 2016 by MS-13 gang members with machetes.

Tigre's sister Monica Tigre, in an interview with Patch, declined to discuss what may have led to her brother's murder, but said she and her family are left with only memories.

"The only thing I can said he was a wonderful person. He was always smiling and helping my family and me. I will remember him — his smile and his kindness," Tigre said.

One Former MS-13 Member's Story

Trying to illuminate the dark reality of an MS-13 member's life, *Elmer — his real name was withheld to protect his identity — a former MS-13 member who was able to escape the gang's tentacles and is now a member of Council for Unity, a non-profit organization that works with schools and jails to help gang members find new lives, shared his story with Patch.

Telling his story, Elmer said: "I joined the MS-13 gang right after my mom died. I was 8-years-old. The gang was, for me, a new life, a new family."

After an initiation when he was jumped, Elmer said, "They showed me everything I needed to know and then I started a new life by busting gangs, robbing, beating our enemies, doing any type of drugs every day, every night, shooting people, drinking every day."

When he was 13, Elmer said he was shot three times and almost lost his leg. "I've been shot, stabbed almost to the point of dying and still didn't come to my senses. I spent my young life mostly in jail because of the violent and criminal things that I did. I lost two of my best friends when I was 15," he said.

Elmer said he made the decision to leave the gang because he was tired of "seeing young people on the street getting killed every day. I was tired of funerals. Tired of watching kids join gangs, doing drugs in their early age. I decide to change when I saw two friends get hit with a straight bullet . . I've made too many mothers cry. I refuse to let another tear be shed because of me."

Spread of MS-13 Across The Nation

The recent murders have put the insidious gang violence on Long Island on the international canvas, with the world watching and wondering how such gruesome violence has come to infiltrate sleepy, suburban communities.

Sliwa spoke to Patch about the path MS-13 has taken to Long Island.

"There was a very violent civil war in El Salvador from 1980 to 1992. In 12 years 75,000 people were killed. It created a refugee crisis and many El Salvadorians fled North to Los Angeles. They settled in Mexican neighborhoods and immediately were preyed upon by the largest Los Angeles street gang, the 18th Street gang, which got started in Los Angeles in 1965," he said. "In order to protect themselves from the 18th Street gang, the El Salvadorians formed MS-13 and started to defend their turf. And even though they were outnumbered they proved to be durable and extremely vicious."

The "Mexican Mafia," which controlled the Latinos in the California prison system, had MS-13 join their ranks, Sliwa said.

Next, Sliwa said, as El Salvadorians migrated east, looking for work, they landed in large numbers, first in Fairfax County, Va,. which is right outside of Washington, D.C.

"They then followed the trail up into Nassau and Suffolk counties, where there was a lot of day laborer work," he said. "In the early 90s they embedded themselves into Fairfax County and in the late 90s they began to spread into Long Island. Along the way, MS-13 started to recruit Guatemalans and Hondurans who were also being picked on by the Mexican 18th Street gang."

The machete is a hallmark of bloody MS-13 crime, Sliwa said. "Unlike other gangs, which prefer guns, Ms-13 uses the machete as a weapon of terror. They will slash their victims, slice off fingers and limbs and on occasion, behead their intended targets. It is done to silence any potential snitches."

Enforcement Efforts To Reign In The Mayhem

From the federal government to local law enforcement, officials appalled by the staggering violence have vowed a crackdown.

Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini has called MS-13 "the greatest public safety issue in Suffolk."

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions referred to the Central Islip murders as he pledged a federal focus on tackling MS-13; he sent a message to the gang, "We will find you."

According to Suffolk County Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff Michael Sharkey, with amped up enforcement efforts, gang members are now trying to become less identifiable.

"A lot of gangs are trying to blend in," Sharkey said. "They used to have noticeable tattoos, but that's now seen as counterproductive to their carrying on their gang business."

In an interview with Patch, Sgt. Steve Lundquist, an investigator for the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office gang intelligence unit, said the bloody murders "have put a spotlight" on gang activity on Long Island. "And rightfully so. Once it's young kids, getting killed, young girls getting killed, it really gets people's attention."

Discussing MS-13's presence in Brentwood and Central Islip, Lundquist said the demographics of the area have changed, with communities "inundated" with individuals of Central American descent. "Not to say they're bad people, but when a new group does come in, sometimes they are the minority in that area, and gangs form for protection. After awhile, when the area changes, their population increases and they become the dominant group in that area."

MS-13, he agreed, became a presence on Long Island in the late 90s, "but not with the numbers we have now."

Unaccompanied minors in the area have been linked to gang activity, Lundquist said.

"Because they are unaccompanied, they are looking for a place to live, looking for food, looking for people that will take care of them," he said. "The gang is very attractive, to help them out, give them a place to live, feed them. That's one of the ways to recruit them, to become members of a gang — they have no place else to turn sometimes."

Many unaccompanied minors, he said, come from areas of El Salvador where MS-13 "runs a lot of the country." Some are already MS-13 members when they arrive in the United States, or have grown up with MS-13 family members. "They don't know anything different," he said.

Recruitment, Lundquist said, is happening in schools, streets, anyplace where people openly congregate, with most kids initiated between 12 and 15-years-old. "If they're going to recruit them, they get them when they're young and impressionable and don't know better," he said.

Some kids who resist recruitment could be killed, Lundquist said, because MS-13 gangs are afraid those potential recruits will be scooped up by the rival 18th Street gang.

MS-13 violence, he agreed, is marked by deadly machete use and for violent robberies and home invasions, with less of an emphasis on drug dealing, which is seen more with Latin Kings, Bloods and Crips.

Rep. Peter King, R-Seaford, agreed that a federal program that allows unaccompanied minors to cross the border is a critical issue; he said he's had extensive conversations with Sini — and of the MS-13 arrests made, more than 50 to 70 percent were unaccompanied minors, King said. There are more than 4,000 unaccompanied minors in Suffolk County, King told Patch.

Unaccompanied minors who come to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, are placed with families "that have been threatened by MS-13 or paid by MS-13," King said. It's believed, King said, "that MS-13 is gaming or using the system" to get young people placed with Suffolk County families and subsequently, bolster MS-13 ranks.

King said there is definite pressure for kids to join gangs, with the threat of violence for those who won't join.

"Police have told me that kids who don't join get beat up pretty badly, there's definite pressure — a definite risk of being killed," he said.

King said he's worked with Sessions, Sini — to whom he gives full credit for the increased crackdown — and Homeland Security, and said a multi-pronged approach is essential to tackle a lethal problem that's "decimating communities."

MS-13 coverage on Patch:

• MS-13: An Inside Look At The Brutal Gang And Its Insidious Spread On Long Island
• Crackdown Nets 39 MS-13 Arrests In 30 Days
• AG Jeff Sessions Warns Deadly MS-13: 'We Are Targeting You'
• 3 MS-13 Gang Members Reportedly Charged In Brutal Quadruple Homicide In Central Islip
• Feds ID Alleged MS-13 Gang Members Charged In Dozen Long Island Murders
• Guardian Angels Founder Curtis Sliwa Offers Plan To Rein In MS-13
• War Against MS-13 Rages On, Police Chief Discusses Concerns
• Watch Live: Suffolk Police Commissioner Tim Sini Testifying Before Congress On Deadly MS-13 Gang
• 'We Are At War:' Dozens Of MS-13 Gang Members Arrested, Indicted

Patch file photos courtesy Guardian Angels, Suffolk County Police.