The leader of the ruthless Trinitarios crime gang has been linked to the murder of a 15-year-old boy in the Bronx after witnesses and video surveillance implicated him in the killing.
Diego Suero, 29, was arrested alongside another gang member for allegedly dragging Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz into the street before he was brutally hacked to death in a machete attack.
A criminal complaint on Wednesday charged gangbangers Suero and Gabriel Ramirez Concepcion, 26, with murder – according to court documents.
Joseph Flores, of the NYPD wrote that the two suspects were arrested ‘based upon official investigation, video surveillance and witnesses known to the police department’.
Guzman-Feliz was stabbed to death in a frenzied stabbing outside a Bronx bodega on June 20 in what later turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
Diego Suero and Gabriel Ramirez Conception appearing in Bronx Criminal court for arraignment in the murder of Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz
Suero and Conception were said to have been implicated in the crime by video surveillance and witness statements
Gabriel Ramirez Conception was allegedly caught on camera with Suero dragging the boy out of the bodega before he was hacked to death with machetes
‘The defendants and several other individuals dragged (Guzman-Feliz) outside of a corner grocery story … while several individuals stabbed and slashed (the teen),’ the complaint alleged.
Guzman-Feliz, known to his friends and family as ‘Junior,’ bled to death from a ghastly wound in his neck on the sidewalk, near his home.
The court heard Suero was free on $20,000 bail from a prior arrest at the time of the attack and had an outstanding warrant from last year and a fine from an unrelated case.
Both suspects entered pleas of not guilty as they appeared in court on Wednesday and are due back in court on Monday.
Suero scowled during his perp walk on Tuesday as he became the tenth member of the gang to face murder charges over the killing.
He was marched out of the 48th precinct in the Bronx to face charges of murder, manslaughter, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Suero was also charged with conspiracy.
But senior law officials told NBC that Suero, of the Bronx, was the leader who ordered the teen’s death.
Gabriel Ramirez Concepcion who is also accused of being involved in Guzman-Feliz’s death, was also led out of the 48th precinct on Tuesday.
The other eight suspects, who have all pleaded not guilty, are: Jose ‘Canelito’ Muniz, 21, Elvin Garcia, 23, Jose Taverez, 21, Manuel Rivera, 18, Danel Fernandez, 21, Joniki Martinez, 24, Santiago Rodriguez, 24, and Kevin Alvarez, 19.
Seven of the suspects on Monday appeared in court for a pre-indictment hearing, which was attended by both of the victim’s parents.
Ten people have been arrested in the June 20 killing of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, 15 (left and right)
The vicious attackers hacked the boy with a machete and appeared to stab him with a knife
The crime was so shocking that Rikers Island have been forced to separate the alleged gang members accused of killing Guzman-Feliz, from the general population for their own safety.
Fernandez, Muniz, and Rodriguez have all been placed in a unit, typically meant to house 50 inmates, after receiving a barrage of death threats.
Other inmates – even members of the Trinitarios gang – ‘want blood from them’, a source said, before noting this was the first time an entire unit at the jail had been dedicated to just three men.
‘You have every Latin gang, including the Trinitarios, after them,’ the source told New York PIX11. ‘They brought a lot of heat to the Trinitarios gang, which is why they are making threats against their own right now.’
Fernandez, Muniz and Rodriguez are occupying three cells inside a unit at the George R. Vierno Center, leaving all 47 others empty. A recent fall in the jail population means there is plenty of spare capacity.
Rivera is also being held at Rikers but is in the general population as he is seen as less at risk, while Taverez, Garcia, Martinez, and Alvarez, are being held at different jails.
Diego Suero scowled at the press during his perp walk as he became the tenth member to face murder charges of the death of the 15-year-old boy hacked to death at a Bronx bodega
Suero was marched out of the 48th precinct in the Bronx to face charges of murder, manslaughter, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon
But senior law officials say that Suero, of the Bronx, was the leader who ordered the teen’s death
Gabriel Ramirez Conception is also suspected of participating in the ‘hit’ on Lesandro ‘Junior’
Protective measures are standard procedure in most jails for high-profile inmates or those under threat. Another source was quoted telling the New York Post, ‘Everyone wants a piece of them. They got around-the-clock security at their door You can’t get near them.’
Prosecutors say the shocking murder was a case of mistaken identity, when one of the gang members falsely believed Guzman to be a man he’d seen having sex with a female love interest in a Snapchat video.
The case has drawn national outrage and fury at the Dominican street gang, with one member even apologizing to the victim’s family over social media.
On Saturday, two of the suspects spoke out to protest their innocence, saying they had no part in the grisly crime.
Martinez-Estrella told the New York Daily News that he was hundreds of miles away in Pennsylvania when Guzman was forcibly dragged from the bodega and hacked to death on the sidewalk.
Guzman-Feliz’s mother (pictured in a white jacket) and father were in court on Monday for some of the suspects’ pre-indictment hearing
Police say that Martinez-Estrella was the one who delivered the fatal blow that ended Guzman’s life.
But his defense attorney points out that the attacker caught on tape has a tattoo on his neck, while his client does not.
‘Look at my neck,’ said Martinez-Estrella. ‘I have nothing.’
Meanwhile, Tavarez told the newspaper that his sole focus over the last year has been working towards earning his high school diploma and avoiding street violence.
‘I’m a guy who works and studies,’ Tavarez claimed from behind bars. ‘I don’t have the heart to kill anyone.’
Three of the men accused of killing Bronx boy Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz have been moved into their own unit at Rikers Island jail. Pictured are Jose Muniz, 21, (left) and Santiago Rodriguez, 24, (right) at Bronx Criminal Court on June 27
Fernandez, Muniz and Rodriguez are occupying three cells inside a unit at the George R. Vierno Center, leaving all 47 others empty. Pictured is the jail of which the unit is a part
While Tavarez admits he was at the bodega on the night of Guzman’s killing, he said that Martinez-Estrella was not. He also said that he ran the moment someone pulled out a weapon.
‘I ran into the bodega because I was afraid,’ Tavarez said in Spanish. ‘I saw the guys with the machete and I got scared.’
The murder suspect also insisted that Guzman-Feliz is ‘not the innocent child everyone is claiming he is,’ but says that family still deserves justice.
‘You come to New York to make your life better,’ Tavarez said. ‘I am not that kind of guy (who would do anything like this).’
Guzman was a member of the NYPD Explorer program and dreamed of someday becoming a cop. He was also remembered as a die-hard Yankees fan.
He was buried on Wednesday after a funeral service attended by thousands.
Mourners gathered outside the shuttered bodega where the attack occurred on June 26 to pay tribute to Guzman-Feliz
Two more suspects were arrested and taken into custody on Tuesday over the killing, including 29-year-old Diego Suero, who is accused of ordering the attack.
He was charged with murder, manslaughter, gang assault, conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police suspect that the Trinitarios gang, which has been around since the 1980s, may be responsible for carrying our three separate attacks on teenagers in The Bronx in just two weeks.
On June 8, a 17-year-old boy was accosted by three suspected gangsters in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx and sliced in the head with a knife.
Two days before Guzman-Feliz was slashed in the neck outside the deli, a large pack of suspected Trinitarios members repeatedly stabbed a 14-year-old boy on the media of the Bronx River Parkway.
Unlike Guzman-Feliz, the victims in the two earlier attacks survived.