I.C.E. News Release

March 10, 2010

Queens MS-13 gang leader sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and murder

NEW YORK - The leader of a Queens chapter of the international street gang La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as "MS-13," was sentenced March 10 to life imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy, including the acts of murder and attempted murder; murder in-aid-of-racketeering; and using a firearm in connection with a crime of violence.

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Amilcar Gomez, 26, on April 3, 2009, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with assistance from the Queens County District Attorney's Office, the New York City Police Department, and the New York City Department of Probation.

The sentenced was announced by Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent in Charge James T. Hayes Jr.

As established during the trial, Gomez was the leader of the Jamaica, N.Y., chapter of MS-13 and engaged in a series of violent crimes in Jamaica, including murder, attempted murder, and robbery. Gomez was convicted of the gang-related murder of Pedro Martinez on March 1, 2003, on 149th Street in Jamaica. The government's evidence established that Gomez and two other MS-13 gang members stabbed Pedro Martinez to death, and that fellow MS-13 gang members stabbed and killed Martinez's brother, Eduardo Leason, moments earlier.

"Gomez's life sentence sends a clear message that gang violence and all of its accompanying destructive conduct will not be tolerated," said James T. Hayes, Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE office of Investigations in New York. "ICE and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to finding and arresting transnational gang members who prey on members of their own community."

Gomez was also convicted of the gang-related attempted murder of a teenager on Sept. 15, 2001, near P.S. 217 Junior High School, also in Jamaica, Queens.

MS-13 is one of the largest transnational street gangs in New York City. MS-13 engages in systematic criminal activity, including murder, robbery, narcotics trafficking, and extortion. Over the past five years, joint investigations by ICE with the United States Attorney's Office, the FBI, and the NYPD have solved multiple murders committed by MS-13 members on Long Island and in New York City, and resulted in felony convictions of more than a dozen MS- 13 leaders and 120 MS-13 soldiers.

The government's case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jason Jones, Carter Burwell and Marshall Miller.

This investigation was conducted as part of Operation Community Shield, ongoing national ICE effort to target foreign-born violent gang members. As part of this initiative, ICE partners with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational street gangs. Partnerships with local law enforcement agencies are essential to the initiative's success, and they help further ensure officer safety during the operations.

Since ICE began Operation Community Shield in February 2005, more than 15,600 gang members belonging to more than 900 different gangs have been arrested nationwide. More information on the National Gang Unit at ICE is available at: www.ice.gov.

The public is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling ICE's toll-free hotline at: 1-866-347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE comprises four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1003/100310newyork.htm