Trial set for MS-13 associate charged in deaths of 4 men

Trial set for MS-13 associate charged in deaths of 4 men

FILE - In this April 13, 2017 file photo, emergency personnel walk near the crime scene where four bodies were found in Central Islip, N.Y. Federal prosecutors have quietly unsealed an indictment saying three members of the MS-13 street gang were among those responsible for the April massacre of four young men found hacked to death in the park, near a soccer field. The victims were identified as a 16-year-old, a 20-year-old and two 18-year-olds, including one visiting from Florida. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A federal jury will hear opening statements next week in the trial of a Long Island woman accused of luring four young men to their slaughter by more than a dozen members of the MS-13 street gang. The racketeering trial of Leniz Escobar begins Monday on Long Island. Prosecutors say she helped orchestrate the 2017 massacre as a teenage associate of the gang. Escobar has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges in the four deaths that prosecutors described as “a horrific frenzy of violence” involving machetes, knives and tree limbs. A message was sent to her attorney seeking comment.

Photo: FILE – In this April 13, 2017 file photo, emergency personnel walk near the crime scene where four bodies were found in Central Islip, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)