In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “These six defendants, members of the Los Sures Trinitarios set, chased Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman–Feliz and dragged him out of [a] Belmont bodega where he was stabbed by five other defendants.” She added, “Their unconscionable actions led to the death of the 15-year-old boy. The shocking viral video of the attack left the Bronx community, and the world, horrified at such complete disregard for human life.”

Clark said the prosecution against all 13 defendants involved in the murder has now ended. “It brings closure in the criminal justice aspect but does not bring an end to the pain Junior’s family and friends still suffer,” the district attorney said. “They will never recover from their immense loss, but we hope it brings some peace to the community in knowing that these defendants will be in prison for years.”

 

District Attorney Clark said the defendants, Danilo Payamps Pacheco, 26, Ronald Urena, 33, Jose Tavarez, 26, Danel Fernandez, 26, and Gabriel Ramirez Concepcion, 30, were sentenced on Jan. 13 by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio. Fernandez was sentenced to 18 years in prison, Urena was sentenced to 15 years in prison; Concepcion and Pacheco were sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Tavarez to 15 years in prison.

According to officials from the district attorney’s office, Luis Cabrera Santos, 29, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Jan. 10. They said that all were sentenced to five years’ post-release supervision and that the defendants had pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

 

As previously reported, and according to trial testimony, on the night of June 20, 2018, Diego Suero, the leader of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang, and Frederic Then, second-in-command, summoned members to Suero’s home and ordered them to commit violence against another set of the Trinitarios called “Sunset.”

The members were in two vehicles when they came upon Junior and chased him to a bodega where he tried to hide. The teen was punched and dragged out of the store by the six defendants and hacked with knives and a machete by Jonaiki Martinez, Jose Muniz, Elvin Garcia, Antonio Rodriguez Hernandez Santiago and Manuel Rivera.

 

Four gang members were sentenced in 2019 to prison terms ranging from 23/25 years to life in prison, and one defendant was sentenced to life in prison. Suero and Then were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 2022, as reported.

Reacting to the sentencing at the time, Lesandro’s mom said, “I am the mother of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman Feliz, an innocent 15-year-old boy who was not a gang member nor did he roam the streets with bad intentions. These criminals ripped him away from me. Leaving all his family, school friends and members of the Explorers Program completely devastated. More than 15 men decided to go out on the night of June 20, 2018. They killed an innocent child who was never in a fight in his entire life. With all of these men, not one ever said, ‘No, don’t do it, don’t kill him.'”

 

She continued, “As Junior’s mother, I’m hoping that you can please help make my son’s dream come true and create a safer city by making an example of these killers. By giving them all the sentences that they deserve, which would be life in prison without parole. These criminals have planted this nightmare that I am currently and continue to live. This case has affected the hearts and minds of thousands of mothers, fathers and children. Many are frustrated and angry with what happened to Junior.”

 

She added, “They filled the people of our city with absolute terror. I’m afraid that these killers will be back on the streets murdering more young children. If they were to be released, nothing would change. They would go back to their ways, killing and not caring about what happened to anyone or how anyone else may feel.”

Clark said the defendants had chased Junior for blocks, in cars and on foot. “When he ran into a bodega on East 183rd Street on Bathgate Avenue, they punched him, they dragged him out and turned him over to the five other convicted defendants who mercilessly stabbed him with knives and a machete,” she said. “With a knife wound to his neck he crawled his way and ran to St. Barnabas Hospital for help. He collapsed in front of the hospital and was later pronounced dead.” His mother worked at St. Barnabas Hospital.

 

“Juniors’ last moments were captured on video surveillance,” Clark said. “It’s been nearly five years since that attack, but those images of a helpless boy who ran and fought like hell to live, are still embedded in our minds and in our hearts. Today’s sentencing also serves as a warning to those who turn to gang life. You may think that joining a gang is going to help you get money or protection, but in the end, it will destroy you. You will end up in prison just like these defendants, hurt or even dead. It will destroy your family.”

 

Clark thanked the jurors who she said rendered the necessary verdicts and the Bronx community who she said stood up and produced information that helped apprehend many of the suspects. Asked if the case had impacted law enforcement’s efforts in curbing gang activity, the district attorney said, “I can’t really answer that. I just know that day in and day out, we are working to make sure that we dismantle these violent gangs in any way that we can, and this is an example and message to them that this is the end result. This is what’s going to happen.”

 

Asked if she could put the case in perspective, she said, “Never in the history of this state we’ve seen anything like it. It hurts me to my heart that it happened here in The Bronx. I’m so tired of us being first in everything bad and last in everything good, but this is part of the narrative to change things that are happening in The Bronx.”

 

She continued, “For the people of The Bronx to know that we’re working hard each and every day to make sure that they are safe and that we do things to put things in place to prevent crimes like this from happening, to intervene when people are going the wrong way, to stop them from heading in this direction, but also to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anybody who thinks it’s okay to cause harm and devastation like this in this county.”

 

The cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Morgan Dolan, counsel in the homicide bureau, under the supervision of Christine Scaccia, chief of the homicide bureau, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division.

 

Clark thanked Assistant District Attorney Devin Horzempa of trial bureau 60 and Assistant District Attorney Masateru Marubashi of the homicide bureau for their assistance in the cases involving the previous co-defendants, and advocates, Laura Ramirez and Ana Pimentel, of the crime victims assistance bureau.

 

She also thanked Bronx District Attorney Detective Investigators, Theresa Ramos, principal supervising intelligence analyst at the crime strategies bureau, Eric Newman, video technician in the video unit, Oladimeji Gbolade, cell site analyst at the technical investigations bureau, and Francesca Castellanos of the interpreters unit.

 

Clark also thanked NYPD Detectives Frank Orlando of the Bronx homicide task force and Joseph Flores of the 48th Precinct for their work on the investigation.

Some friends of Junior’s spoke to Norwood News about his legacy on the first anniversary of his death in 2019. A street renaming in his honor had taken place earlier that year.