The evil MS-13 member known as “Little Devil” was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her part in luring four men to be hacked to death in a Long Island park.
Leniz Escobar, 24, “willingly and enthusiastically” helped plan and carry out the brutal April 2017 killing, US Judge Joseph Bianco said at the sentencing in Central Islip on Tuesday.
Escobar — who was known as “Diablita” (“Little Devil”) — was convicted in 2022 of four counts of murder in aid of racketeering and one count of racketeering in connection with the horrifying crime.
Leniz Escobar, 24, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the quadruple murder. SMoore-GlasgowEscobar told the court that she knew the pain and heartbreak she had caused.
“All I can do is hurt,” she said tearfully. “Every breath reminds me that they are not here and their families are in pain. If I could trade places with them and take away that pain, I would.”
Escobar was only 17 when she convinced other members of the MS-13 gang to kill Miguel Lopez, 20, Justin Llivicura, 16, and Jefferson Villalobos and Jose Tigre, both 18, by showing them social media pictures of the victims supposedly mocking the group with gang signs.
Miguel Lopez, 20, Justin Llivicura, 16, and Jefferson Villalobos and Jose Tigre, both 18, were all killed in the machete massacre.
She felt “personally offended” that one of the victims had worn items typically associated with the gang even though he was not a member, Assistant US Attorney Megan Farrell said.
She then lured the young men to the park under the pretense of smoking marijuana with them, according to Farrell.
After the other gang members hacked the men to death with machetes, Escobar bragged about her role in the plot and instructed others to destroy evidence and evade investigators.
During the trial two years ago, one witness testified that Escobar smiled while the victims were killed and even licked their blood off her lips when it got on her shirt.
“She was one of the most culpable people,” Farrell said Tuesday. “Without her, these murders would not have occurred.”
The parents and relatives of the victims were present in court.
Escobar — who called herself “Diablita,” Spanish for “little devil” — “willingly and enthusiastically” helped plan and carry out the April 2017 killing. Dennis A. Clark“She does not deserve 50 or 60 years in prison. She deserves the death penalty,” Tigre’s mother, Bertha Ullaguari, said in Spanish through a translator.
Tigre’s 17-year-old brother, Jason, said his older brother was looking forward to going to college before he was murdered.
“Now I’m all alone and I’m trying to be strong for him,” he said through tears. “This never should have happened, but it did because she did it. He should still be here.”
The casket of Justin Llivicura, one of four young men found slain, is carried from St. Joseph the Worker Church after his funeral on April 19, 2017. APThe prosecutors argued for a 65-year sentence, and told the court that Escobar had maintained strong ties to MS-13 in the wake of her arrest seven years ago.
She even allegedly coordinated the beating of another female gang associate who supposedly violated the group’s code.
Escobar’s lawyer, however, asked that his client receive no more than 32 years behind bars, citing the fact that she was just under 18 at the time of the killings and had already survived years of violence, sexual abuse, exploitation and human trafficking.
“From the time of her birth until April 2017, she had lived a horrible, terrible life,” defense attorney Jesse Siegel insisted. “The best years of her life have been the last seven years in custody.”
Escobar also made positive progress while in custody by earning a high school degree, leading Bible studies and mentoring fellow inmates with “wisdom beyond her years.”
With Post wires
