NEW YORK – Greek-American Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas on July 24 released the following update concerning the fight against the MS-13 gang.

“Last Wednesday, the President of the United States announced a sweeping indictment of MS-13 gang leaders by the US Attorney for the Eastern District. Significant evidence utilized in this 24-count indictment was developed in Nassau County by Nassau County detectives and prosecutors from my office. Indeed, some of the defendants were previously prosecuted by the Nassau County District Attorney's office and are currently serving life sentences as a result. I am immensely proud to have been able to assist our federal partners in this massive takedown.

“Our fight against MS-13 and other gangs that terrorize our communities is not over and we will continue to partner with other law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of our residents.”

Singas “credited Jared Rosenblatt, the deputy chief of the Nassau District Attorney General’s Major Offenses Bureau, and two Nassau police detectives, for conducting a years-long investigation using wiretaps and other sources of evidence to figure out how MS-13 is organized and operates,” New York Newsday reported.

“They have gotten to the heart of this organization,” Singas told Newsday.

Trump and Barr “announced that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty for Alexi Saenz of Central Islip, the alleged leader of the Brentwood clique of MS-13 in the killings of two Brentwood girls and five others in a spate of gang violence on Long Island that began in 2016,” Newsday reported, adding that “Two of the eight men indicted, Victor Lopez-Morales and David Sosa-Guevara, pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy in December in connection with the slaying of Roosevelt teen Angel Soler and are already serving lengthy prison sentences, Rosenblatt said.”

“Lopez-Morales, a high-ranking lieutenant in MS-13’s ‘Hollywood’ clique who is also known as ‘Persa,’ was sentenced in February by a Nassau County judge to 23 years to life in February,” Newsday reported, noting that “Sosa-Guevara, the leader of the ‘Hollywood’ clique who is also known as ‘Risky,’ was sentenced in February to 24 years to life,” and “a third man named in the indictment, Carlos Alfaro, was charged by Nassau prosecutors in February in two 2016 murders.”

Prosecutors told Newsday that “Alfaro, also known as ‘Russo,’ confessed on video to the slayings of Josue Amaya Leonor and Carlos Ulises Ventura-Zelaya.”

Though the case against Alfaro is pending, Singas told Newsday that “her office may drop its case and let federal prosecutors take over.”

“Who can hold him the most accountable gets the case,” she said, Newsday reported.

Singas said that “while it would be premature to declare victory against MS-13, which had been linked to more than two dozen homicides on Long Island between 2016 and 2017, law-enforcement officials on Long Island and beyond have had great success in reigning in the gang’s violence thanks to the wiretaps,” Newsday reported.

Singas noted that “information gathered during the investigation led by Rosenblatt and Nassau police detectives has been shared with authorities in Suffolk, New York City, New Jersey, Maryland and El Salvador,” Newsday reported, adding that “some of that information has been used to prevent other crimes, including killings and kidnappings,” and “other information has been used in criminal cases brought in other jurisdictions.”

“Police in those jurisdictions shared information with Nassau law-enforcement officials, providing agencies across the nation with information about how MS-13 works,” Newsday reported.

“We have gleaned so much information from that wire and we have used it to take down the major players in MS-13,” Singas told Newsday.