In a major development Wednesday, five more gang members have pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter charges in the brutal 2018 stabbing of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz.
The five criminals are the latest to be convicted for the horrific crime that was caught all on camera. As we previously reported, Guzman-Feliz, who was not a gang member but was mistaken for one, was chased, dragged out of a Bronx bodega, stabbed with knives and a machete, and left dying on a street corner in a murder that rocked the community.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark provided an update on the case and announced Wednesday that Danilo Payamps Pacheco, 26, Ronald Urena, 29, Luis Cabrera Santos, 29; and Gabriel Ramirez Concepcion, 30, pleaded guilty yesterday. A fifth defendant, Jose Tavarez, 26, pleaded guilty on Nov. 16. It was said that the men were also part of a group of 14 “Los Sures” Trinitarios gang members. According to the district attorney’s office, the five men will be sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to 15 years, followed by post-release supervision as part of their plea agreements. The guilty pleas come just a couple of months after two reputed leaders of the Trinitarios gang were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the horrific murder of innocent Guzman-Feliz.
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“They along with seven other defendants have been held accountable in the killing of the 15-year-old boy which horrified the Bronx and beyond,” Clark said. “Since Junior was taken from his family, we have been relentless to attain justice for him.”
The guilty pleas come just a couple of months after two reputed leaders of the Trinitarios gang were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the horrific murder of innocent Guzman-Feliz.
Diego Suero, 33, and Frederick Then, 24, were both convicted of second degree murder back in July for the kill order on Guzman-Feliz. They were later handed down 25 years to life in prison for their involvement. More than a dozen of his attackers have already been convicted and sentenced.
More On The Case
Trial testimony showed that Mr. Then — Mr. Suero’s second-in-command — had sent gang members to Mr. Suero’s home and ordered them to attack a rival set known as Sunset. On June 20, 2018, at about 11:40 p.m., Guzman-Feliz was walking alone in the Belmont section of the Bronx, looking at his phone, when he was spotted by the group. The men chased him for roughly four blocks, and finally caught up to him as he tried to hide inside the Cruz and Chiky Grocery, a bodega at East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue.
He tried to tell the store owner what was going on but the group dragged little Guzman-Feliz and stabbed him multiple times.
Mr. Then watched the attack from a short distance away and later called Mr. Suero to report that his orders had been carried out.
Another surveillance video showed Junior walking as he bled out, trying to look for help. He was eventually taken to a hospital
where he was later pronounced dead. He was just 15 years old.
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