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An MS-13 gang leader was found guilty Wednesday of ordering the murder of a 16-year-old boy found nearly decapitated in a Queens park — as well as calling for underlings to commit a slew of other violent crimes.
Melvi Amador-Rios, 32, was convicted by a Brooklyn federal jury following about a day of deliberations and a more than two-week trial in which several MS-13 snitches took the stand and testified about the leader’s ruthlessness.
“The defendant was the one signing the death warrants,” Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Nadia Moore told jurors of Amador-Rios in her closing statement Tuesday.
Amador-Rios — who went by nicknames “Letal” and “Pinky” — was the “corredor,” or leader of the Centrales Locos Salvatruchas, or “CLS” clique, an MS-13 arm based in Jamaica.
He was found guilty of instructing members of CLS to kill Julio Vasquez — a teen stabbed nearly 30 times in 2017 — as well as of ordering a botched hit that left another 16-year-old boy paralyzed in 2016 and of directing a string of robberies.
A jury found the CLS leader guilty of 17 out of 18 counts including murder in aid of racketeering and attempted murder in aid of racketeering.
He faces a mandatory life sentence.
Five cooperating witnesses took the stand in the feds’ case — including the MS-13 leader’s own brother, Santos Amador-Rios, 33, a member of CLS, who turned on him during his testimony.
“I love him a lot, you know, but faith has put us here. It isn’t like I want to do what I am doing right now, but I cannot rot in jail,” Santos Amador-Rios said earlier in the trial, according to court documents.
“He knows that and I know that I love him a lot, but there’s nothing that I can do.”
Prosecutors said Amado-Rios “oversaw the murder” of Vasquez, a “chequeo,” or low-level member, in the clique until he fell out with the gang for failing to carry out the killing of a fellow MS-13 member — sparking suspicions he was snitching to law enforcement.
Amador-Rios set up a trap by luring Vasquez to Alley Pond Park, where two other members — Josue “Colocho” Leiva and Luis “Inquieto” Rivas, stabbed him 34 times, nearly decapitating him with several stab wounds to the neck.
The stabbings were so vicious that they left marks on Vasquez’ skull and bones on his neck, according to prosecutors.
Vasquez’ body was discovered by a birdwatcher, who testified at trial that the body was “covered with maggots.”
Earlier in the trial, Luis Serrano testified about the night of Oct. 22, 2016 when members of the MS-13 clique targeted him because they believed he was a member of 18th Street, a rival Queens gang.
Serrano, who is now paraplegic and in a motorized wheelchair, said he had to spend nine months in the hospital after surviving being shot in the head and lives in pain every day.
One of Amador Rios’ “chequeos,” Jose Gonzalez, snitched on the leader, telling jurors how Amador-Rios told him to do the killing on behalf of the gang – and how he was promoted to “homeboy” after the botched hit.
CLS’ terror extended to local businesses in the Queens neighborhood, including one deli robbery that left a woman pistol whipped and needing 13 stitches in her head.
“With today’s verdict, an extremely dangerous MS-13 gang leader aptly nicknamed “Letal,” or “Lethal,” has been brought to justice for his murderous racketeering crimes and now faces a mandatory life sentence,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement Wednesday following the conviction.
Amador-Rios’ sentencing date has not yet been set.
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