NEW YORK – A member of the MS-13 gang was extradited from El Salvador to the United States for allegedly being one of those responsible for the gruesome murder of a 15-year-old teenager on Long Island. The extradition comes four years after the murder, prosecutors said Friday.
Eduardo Portillo, 23, a former resident of Central Islip and Brentwood, fled the country and was charged with the murder of the teenager after an indictment was published before a federal grand jury in May 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office said. Eastern District of New York. Federal prosecutors said Portillo was arrested in El Salvador in February 2019 and was awaiting extradition to the United States.
In 2016, Portillo and other MS-13 gang members allegedly tricked Castillo, 15, also a Central Islip resident, into an isolated swamp in Freeport on October 10. It was at that moment that the defendants attacked Castillo with a machete, taking turns with the tool, the prosecution’s office said.
Prosecutors said it took a year to find the place where the gang buried Castillo’s body. The teen was targeted for being an alleged member of a rival MS-13 gang, the 18th Street gang, authorities said.
“Today’s extradition of the defendant Portillo demonstrates the determination of law enforcement agencies to bring to justice all gang members who commit violent crimes in our district, regardless of where in the world they fled and are trying to hide,” stated the Prosecutor Federal Acting DuCharme in a press release.
Portillo has been charged with murder and, if convicted, faces life in prison. Information from Portillo’s attorney was not immediately available.
“Bringing Mr. Portillo back to the United States to face justice for the heinous murder of a 15-year-old is a great step toward healing a family and community terrorized by MS-13,” Sweeney stated, deputy director in charge of the FBI.
“We hope that people see this action as a sign that the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force and our partners are not lowering our resolve to dismantle MS-13,” Sweeney added.
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