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More than 40 sword-wielding MS-13 thugs and other gang members who have been terrorizing Long Islanders for years with attempted murders and human-trafficking have been nabbed in a sweeping Nassau County crackdown.

The massive bust netted 42 street soldiers and other associates, including five college-aged thugs accused of being part of the deadly MS-13’s Hempstead Locos Salvatruchas branch. They were allegedly responsible for a machete and knife attack that wounded six during a soccer game in broad daylight at the town’s Kennedy Memorial Park last October.

The attack was so gruesome that one victim needed his gallbladder removed and his diaphragm and liver surgically repaired, authorities said.


  The takedown netted 42 suspected gang members and their associates. Dennis A. Clark The takedown netted 42 suspected gang members and their associates. Dennis A. Clark

The victims ranged in age between 20 and 51.

“We are removing dangerous criminals and gang members from our communities and will continue to fight to keep Nassau County the safest county in America,” Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told The Post.

Purported El Salvadorian sect leader Ellias Wilfredo Serrano Bonilla, 21, was brought up on eight counts of attempted murder and a laundry list of weapons, robbery and assault charges over the brazen assault on the pitch.


  Nassau County police officers make an arrest as part of the sweep. New York Post Nassau County police officers make an arrest as part of the sweep. New York Post

Bonilla, who calls East Meadow home, is believed to have entered the US illegally sometime prior to 2016, and was previously arrested in Nassau on first-degree assault and gang assault charges in early 2020, according to authorities.

Accomplices in the attack, Edras Daniel Velasquez Giron, 19, Jeffrey Bladimir Valladares Archaga, 20, Pedro Martinez Velasquez, 18, and Kelvin Martinez, 19, are all facing charges related to the harrowing incident.

Elias Wilfredo Serrano Bonilla Obtained by NY Post
Jeffrey Bladimir Valladares Archaga Obtained by NY Post
Edras Daniel Velasquez Giron Obtained by NY Post

Giron and Archaga, who are both from Honduras, also crossed the US border illegally during Joe Biden’s term in the White House, according to Nassau officials.

Last December, Bonilla, Velasquez and Martinez, along with two others — 24-year-old Kennet Contreras and 18-year-old Edwin Patzan Piri — used machetes and white pipes to allegedly attack a pair of people parked outside a Uniondale laundromat.

“MS-13 has a long and violent history in New York, particularly on Long Island, where its members have terrorized communities for decades,” Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly, a Republican, said in announcing the charges on Monday.


  Hatchets and swords were confiscated in the raids. Dennis A. Clark Hatchets and swords were confiscated in the raids. Dennis A. Clark

More recently, at the same park as last year, four members of the gang chased down an “innocent” teen with “cognitive issues” who they mistook as a rival gang member Aug. 15, according to Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.

“They got out of the car. They tried to rob them. They hacked them with a machete, and the kid ran from Kennedy Park to the border of Roosevelt,” he said of the town about 2 miles southeast.

Police arrested two of the assailants. Another pair remains at large.

In 2017, President Trump visited MS-13 hotspot Brentwood in nearby Suffolk County to address the violent street gang, while pledging to destroy it.

Blakeman, who authorized the mammoth law enforcement bust this month, said Nassau’s drop in crime has been” significant” since Trump returned to Washington — thanks to the county’s formal partnership with ICE.


  Nassau County cops have arrested nearly 40 suspected MS-13 members in a recent crackdown. New York Post Nassau County cops have arrested nearly 40 suspected MS-13 members in a recent crackdown. New York Post

He reported that the “despicable” crimes of the recent roundups, which included 25 known gang members and others on related charges, also involved “human trafficking of women and young girls.”

“These relationships materially help us incarcerate and deport dangerous criminals that prey on our communities, and as a result, we are the safest county in America,” Blakeman, who is up for reelection in November, added — referencing an August 2024 ranking of safest US counties by US News & World Report.

Rival gangs beefing

The large-scale raids over the past two weeks came at a time when Nassau police observed worrisome upticks in gang violence — most notably a 17-year-old who gunned down a victim as part of an initiation, according to law enforcement sources.

Police have also seen a recent rise in feuds between the MS-13s and rival 18th Street gangs over things as trivial as social media posts and public sightings, which prompted cops to swoop in. Five members of the 18th Street gang have been arrested.

The infighting began Aug. 9 when MS-13 members broke into an 18th Street gang house, targeting an unidentified youth.


  An MS-13 weapon recovered in Nassau County. Courtesy of Nassau County An MS-13 weapon recovered in Nassau County. Courtesy of Nassau County

“They chased the kid. They shot at the kid. The kid jumped out of a second-story window and got away from them,” Ryder said.

Other gangs like the Trinitarios — the group responsible for the notorious 2018 mistaken identity machete murder of a Bronx teen, “Junior” Guzman-Feliz, who aspired to join the NYPD one day — are leaving a mark on Long Island, too.

“Most of them all have rivalries with each other,” Nassau PD Sgt. John Schmitt told The Post during a ride-along overnight Monday in the Hempstead area, which is often notoriously called “the sixth borough” by locals on the island.

“The violent gang members do have weapons. They’re not out here without weapons.”

During the ride-along, The Post witnessed the arrest of Joel Elvin Paulino El DeJesus — a “known and identified” Trinitario — who was rung up on felony narcotics charges in the heart of the village just after midnight.

Another member of the gang, Johnny Rivera, was arrested in the takedown, officials announced.

Undercover units arrested the thug for allegedly holding seven grams of packaged cocaine hidden in his SUV by a parking lot that’s been an increasing hot spot for danger recently, according to the sergeant.

“We had violence here in this parking lot two nights ago,” added Schmitt.

“We had an attempted murder — stabbing — and several people assaulted in this area.”

Blakeman, who Tuesday was endorsed by the Nassau County Detectives Association, issued a warning to any remaining gang members in his jurisdiction: “Get out of town.

“Because in Nassau County you’re going to be prosecuted, you’re going to be incarcerated, or you’re going to be deported,” he said.

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