NEW YORK – Diego Suero and Frederick Then, two of the gang members charged in connection with the 2018 murder of Lesandro “Junior” Guzmán Feliz, were found guilty Friday of second-degree murder by a Bronx jury after approximately the trial thatwhich had been postponed due to the death of the lawyer of one of them in 2020.
The Bronx prosecutor, Darcel D. Clark, said that Suero, 33, and Then, 24, ordered the gang members to commit the violent act that ended with the death of the Dominican teenager. One of them, Then, watched the vicious machete attack.
“These men, leaders of a group of Trinidadians, ordered their members to go out and commit violence. The order ended the life of a promising 15-year-old, Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzmán Feliz. One of the defendants stood up and watched as gang members attacked Junior with knives and a machete outside a Belmont warehouse,” the prosecutor said.
This was the second trial in the case as a first trial was held against five other gang members in 2019.
“The brutality was caught on surveillance video and it went viral. Five gang members are serving time for their 2019 murder convictions, and today, a Bronx jury found the two leaders guilty for their role in the murder, closing another chapter in this tragedy. We said we would get justice for Junior and this verdict does that, and hopefully brings some comfort to his family who have endured so much pain.”
The defendants face 25 years to life in prison when they are sentenced on September 16, 2022.
THE OTHER GUILTY GANG MEMBERS
In the past, the Bronx County Attorney’s Office charged a total of 14 suspected gang members for this act. Of these, five faced the first trial for their direct participation in the murder.
In October 2019, These five gang members were convicted of the fifteen-year-old’s murder in Bronx criminal court.
Jonaiki Martínez Estrella was sentenced to life in prison without parole for first degree murder, 25 years to life for second degree murder, 8 1/3 to 25 years for second degree conspiracy, and 15 years in prison and five years of supervision. post release for second degree gang assault. His sentences will be simultaneous.
In addition, José Muñiz, Elvin García and Antonio Rodríguez Hernández Santiago were sentenced to 25 years to life for first-degree murder, 25 years to life for second-degree murder, 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison for conspiracy in the second degree and 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision for gang assault in the second degree. Their sentences will also be simultaneous.
Manuel Rivera was sentenced to 23 years to life for first-degree murder, 23 years to life for second-degree murder, 5 to 15 years for second-degree conspiracy, and 15 years to five years post release supervision for second degree gang assault.
DEATH OF LESANDRO “JUNIOR” GUZMAN HAPPY
According to trial testimony, on the night of June 20, 2018, Suero, leader of the group “Los Sures” of the Trinitarios gang, and Then, second in command, summoned the members to Suero’s house and ordered the members to committing violence against another group of Trinidadians called “Sunset”.
The young man, of Dominican descent and who was 15 years old, left his house that day, June 20, 2018, a day that death found him in the most ruthless way. “Junior” was killed by a group of gang members from the gang known as “Trinitarios”, who ambushed and chased the innocent teenager to a warehouse in the Bronx and took him out to stab him countless times with a machete. According to the forensic doctor’s report, one of those wounds was in his neck, which would have caused his death.
From a short distance, Then watched the attack and then called Suero to tell him that the members had carried out orders.
The heinous crime occurred in front of a warehouse located on the corner of East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue, in the Belmont sector, in the Bronx. The savage act was recorded on surveillance videos and marked New Yorkers.
The Trinitarians, led by Then, fled the scene and returned to Suero’s house to hide weapons and provide aid to a defendant who cut his hand during the incident. In a message to Suero, a Trinidadian told him: “you are the one who gave birth to the child…”, to which Suero replied: “yes, for all of Sunset”.
The death of “Junior” left a deep pain in the community and moved the nation, a pain that will never be torn from his mother and his family, but, in the midst of that suffering, his spirit will always be, as his mother said during the first anniversary. “Those men who ripped my son from me, ripped him out physically, but his soul, his spirit, his heart, will always be with me, in my soul, they can never take that away from me,” said Leandra Feliz, the mother of the victim.
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