An MS-13 gang member who helped hack a 15-year-old rival to death with a machete after luring him to a secluded Long Island park was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a federal judge on Tuesday.
Eduardo Portillo, 25, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to racketeering and admitted to trafficking drugs on behalf of MS-13 and to participating in the 2016 killing of Javier Castillo in Cow Meadow Park in Freeport.
Oct. 10, 2016, Portillo and other Brentwood-based members of MS-13 suspected Castillo was a member of the 18th Street gang, their chief rival, and convinced the teen to ride with them to Freeport to smoke pot.
They brought Castillo to a marsh area of Cow Meadow Park, where they attacked him, taking turns slashing with machetes until he died, the feds said.
The gangsters then dug a shallow grave in the park and dumped the teen’s body in it, prosecutors said.
Federal authorities tracked Portillo down in El Salvador and extradited him to the US in 2020 so he could face the racketeering charge, which was brought by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Javier Castillo was killed in 2016 after MS-13 gang members lured him into a Long Island park and attacked him with a machete.
Law enforcement officials lauded the sentencing after it was handed down Tuesday.
“With today’s sentence, Portillo learned there are very serious consequences for participating in the planning and execution of a murder so that he could gain membership in the MS-13 gang, a vicious criminal enterprise whose members have no regard for human life or the rule of law,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
“Today’s sentencing sends another clear message that gang violence will not be tolerated and the extradition of this suspect proves law enforcement will go to great lengths to ensure justice is served,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison added.
