Gang Member Faces Life In Prison For Fatal Deli Shooting

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — An MS-13 gang member faces a sentence of life in prison for the 2017 fatal shooting at a Central Islip deli and a 2016 assault in Brentwood, the U.S. attorney announced on Wednesday.

In May 2019, Central Islip resident 26-year-old Jose Suarez was found guilty and convicted of racketeering, murder, assault and related conspiracy, firearms and accessory after the fact charges, according to the U.S. attorney.

"Mr. Suarez' life sentence in federal prison is simply another brick in the wall we've built around MS-13 to stop this violent gang from terrorizing people on Long Island. Agents and detectives assigned to the FBI's Long Island Gang Task Force, whose work continues to this day, have put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to dismantle this gang," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. "The results of their labor, as well as the community's commitment to working with us to prevent a resurgence in gang activity, is commendable."

The charges were in connection with a 2017 shooting, resulting in the death of Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla and injuring a female employee at the deli as well as the 2016 assault of a man outside a restaurant in Brentwood, the U.S. attorney said.

In 2017, Suarez and other gang members made plans to kill Alvarado-Bonilla after he was seen inside El Campesino Deli wearing a football jersey with Peyton Manning's number 18. Because he was wearing the number 18, the group believed he was a rival gang member, the 18th Street gang.

As a result, Suarez drove along with other gang members to a street near the deli where Alvarado-Bonilla was shot multiple times from behind. During the shooting, one of the bullets traveled through Alvarado-Bonilla's head and struck a female employee of the deli who was standing directly in front of him in the chest.

Before that in 2016, Suarez was also charged in connection to an assault of two men outside the Super Taco restaurant in Brentwood, which serious injured one of the men. The men were attacked because one of them had disrespected the MS-13.

"Suarez will deservedly spend the rest of his life in a federal prison for the brutal murder and mayhem he committed in the name of the MS-13 gang," Acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme said. "The investigation and trial of this case is the result of the unyielding commitment of the Office and our partners on the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force to eradicate the MS-13 in this district."