The brutal machete murder of a 15-year-old boy outside a Bronx bodega on June 20, allegedly by members of the Dominican street gang the Trinitarios, has propelled the otherwise unknown group to a national stage.
Last week, eight members of the gang allegedly murdered Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman Feliz in a case of mistaken identity which has shocked the country.
The eight alleged murderers are in custody and have all been arraigned with the help of Spanish translators.
While their gang may not be as well known as the infamous MS-13 or the Bloods or the Crips, its presence is rising in New York City and bringing with it a wave of violence.
The gang began in the 1980s on Rikers Island where a collection of Dominican inmates banded together to protect each other on the inside.
Members of the Trinitarios gang pose for a photograph as part of a History channel documentary. The gang was started in Rikers Island in the 80s but has spread to the streets of New York and New Jersey
According to The New York Post, one of the co-founders is Leonides ‘Junito’ Sierra who remains behind bars to this day. He has been charged in the past with operating the gang from his prison cell.
Its specialties are machete murders, drug dealing and prostitution, according to police sources.
Members distinguish themselves with green bandannas.
Their name loosely translates to trinity which refers to their three core beliefs – God, brotherhood and freedom.
One unnamed NYPD official told The Post how the gang’s members lure vulnerable women into city apartments where they then trap them as sex slaves and force them to work.
One of the Trinitarios’ logos. The gang’s loosely translates to the trinity and represents its three core principles – God, brotherhood and freedom
The gang prefers machetes to guns and attack victims by slicing them in a more ‘personal’ way than shooting them
‘They get these girls to come in and move them from apartment to apartment, letting guys come in and rape them. The girls can’t get away,’ they said.
Leonides ‘Junito’ Sierra founded the gang in Rikers Island in the 1980s. He is still in jail for operating it from his cell
Another trademark is the machete which gang members prefer to use over guns because it allows for a more ‘personal’ attack.
‘A shooting is easy to do. [The Trinitarios’ preferred way] is more close and personal.
‘They like to send messages.’
While their rivals DDP (Dominicans Don’t Play) have long been on detectives’ radars, the Trinitarios have flown relatively undetected until now.
‘They are definitely getting big. The NYPD ought to start paying a lot more attention to them,’ the source added.
The Trinitarios are said to recruit members in high school, while they are young.
The eight men arrested for Lesandro’s murder are all aged between 18 and 24. Some are from New Jersey and some are from the Bronx.
Jose Muniz (left) and Danel Fernandez (right) are shown being walked out of the 48th precinct in the Bronx on Wednesday afternoon after being extradited to New York from New Jersey
Joniki Martinez-Estrella (left) and Jose Tavarez were also taken to court at the same time
Santiago Rodriguez (left) and Manuel Rivera (right) were walked out at the same time
Kevin Alvarez (left) was arraigned on Tuesday and Elvin Garcia (right) was arraigned on Wednesday. Both are from the Bronx
The gang has been blamed for other murders in the last year and residents of the Bronx are well aware of the threat they carry.
Lesandro Guzman-Feliz (pictured), a 15-year-old aspiring NYPD cop, was beaten and stabbed to death outside of a Bronx bodega last week, allegedly by members of the gang
‘Decency and humanity isn’t in their DNA, only killing. They’re just as bad as terrorists,’ said Camila Garcia, 27, a mother-of-two who lives in the area.
‘We live here. We deal with this. We hear the “bang bang bang” at night. When you hear noise, you got to make sure all your kids is in the house…
‘Who wants to live like that?’ added the mother of a woman who was killed as the DDP shot at Trinitarios in a playground in 2016.
Another mother who lives in the area said the men who killed Junior were ‘kids’ that they saw ‘every day’.
‘The kids that killed [Guzman-Feliz] are kids that we see every day. They don’t look like killers. They look like normal teenage boys.
‘You never know who could be a killer,’ she said.
Teenagers at Junior’s wake said they learned to tolerate the violence to save their own skin.
‘It’s about survival. When these lights go out, who’s here? Not you. Not the cops.
‘You mind your business, you shut your mouth, you’ll be all right,’ one 16-year-old said.
The gang is also believed to be responsible for a knife attack on a teenage boy on June 18.
They were filmed chasing him onto the Bronx River Parkway to attack him. The boy, whose mother did not want him to be named, remains in hospital.
A gaggle of young men, allegedly members of the gang, are seeing surrounding a 14-year-old boy during a vicious attack on Bronx River Parkway on June 18
Clinging to life: Another 14-year-old, pictured in his hospital bed, lost a kidney after being repeatedly stabbed and beaten. His mother declined to name the teen for his protection