MS-13 Charged In Murders Of Ramos-Moreno, Lopez-Lopez

Five alleged members of the notorious MS-13 gang have been indicted in relation to a drug trafficking network and two heinous homicides on Long Island.

Yoneli Ramos-Moreno, 20, was discovered deceased at Smithtown’s Sunken Meadow State Park. October 2023.

The defendants are charged with participating in the murder of 20-year-old Yoneli Ramos-Moreno, whose body was discovered in Kings Park’s Sunken Meadow State Park in October 2023, according to an indictment that was unsealed in a federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday, June 25. This was earlier reported by the Daily Voice.

Additionally, the group is charged with the murder of Carlos Lopez-Lopez, 27, whose body was found on a Blue Point beach in March 2025.

According to US Attorney Joseph Nocella, the murders were committed by members of the Carlington and Hollywood cliques of MS-13 as part of a pattern of gang loyalty and brutality.

According to Nocella, the indictment’s legal language is insufficient to convey the blatant brutality with which the defendants tortured, strangled, and killed Ramos-Moreno and planned to kill Lopez-Lopez.

The Murders

Prosecutors claimed that Ramos-Moreno, a former MS-13 associate, was accused of betraying the gang by joining the Latin Kings, a rival organization.

Gang members are accused of luring him to a Hauppauge parking lot on October 28, 2023, and then driving him to Sunken Meadow Bluff. There, they beat him to death, strangled him with a rope, and dumped his body in the forest. Later, they destroyed his phone and set fire to the rope.

It was two days later that park visitors found his body.

Prosecutors claim that three defendants plotted the murder of Lopez-Lopez on Monday, March 3. Lopez-Lopez had also been associated with MS-13 and had assisted in luring Ramos-Moreno to his demise. The gang thought he was working with the police.

The following morning, Lopez-Lopez’s body was discovered on Blue Point Beach after he was stabbed and drowned during the assault.

Extra Fees

The guys are charged with murder and conspiracy, and the indictment also alleges that they were involved in a Long Island cocaine and marijuana distribution operation. Prosecutors said that MS-13’s activities, such as purchasing firearms and paying gang leaders in the US and Central America, were financed by the narcotics transactions.

Who Was Accused?

These five defendants are:

• David Orellana-Aleman, 27, of Hyattsville, Maryland (a.k.a. Tenebroso )
• Noel Portillo-Romero, 27, of Hempstead and Central Islip (a.k.a. Discreto )
• Cruz Eduardo Sanchez-Gutierrez, 29, of Glen Cove and Central Islip (a.k.a. Escriper, Poison, Bellaco )
• Ernesto Torres-Hernandez, 26, of Port Jefferson and Central Islip (a.k.a. Perverso )
• Omar Zavala-Ventura, 27, of Glen Cove (a.k.a. Snyder, Little Ejecutor, Pequeno Ejecutor, Liro )

On Tuesday, June 24, three of the guys were arrested and were expected to show up in federal court the next afternoon. They will be arraigned later. The other two are already in custody.

Continuous Crackdown

The case, according to authorities, is a part of a larger campaign to break MS-13’s hold on Long Island. More than 75 murders connected to the gang have been charged by authorities in the Eastern District of New York since 2010.

HSI New York Acting Special Agent Michael Alfonso stated that we will not put up with these vicious gang members who are reportedly involved in murder and drug sales that contaminate our communities.