A Long Island woman who lured four young men to their deaths at the hands of notorious street gang MS-13 was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison.
Keyli Gomez, now 23, flipped and testified against co-conspirator Leniz Escobar. Escobar, known by the nickname “la Diablita,” was sentenced last year to 50 years behind bars.
Gomez and Escobar, then 16 and 17 years old, met the victims on April 11, 2017, and drove them to a park in Central Islip under the guise of smoking marijuana together.
Five young men — Justin Llivicura, 16; Michael Lopez Banega, 20; Jorge Tigre, 18; Jefferson Villalobos, 18; and Elmer Alexander Arteaga-Ruiz — had been marked for death by MS-13. Investigators said they posted gang signs on social media despite not being MS-13 members.
Gomez and Escobar delivered them into the hands of several very real MS-13 members, who viciously hacked and beat Llivicura, Lopez, Tigre and Villalobos to death. Arteaga-Ruiz escaped by sprinting away and jumping over a fence.
Prosecutors said Gomez’s cooperation helped them unravel the case, according to Newsday. She has already served more than seven years in prison, having been incarcerated since 2017. Upon her release, Gomez could be deported to El Salvador, as she did not establish legal residency in the U.S.
“If she’s deported back to El Salvador, she’s going to be killed” for cooperating against MS-13, U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco said at Gomez’s sentencing, according to Newsday. The gang holds immense power in El Salvador, where many of its members are from.
Gomez’s defense attorney, Anthony La Pinta, told the court his client had received a letter from Escobar while in prison that “terribly unnerved her.”