Jairo Saenz was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison this week for a racketeering case that included his role in seven Long Island murders committed during a wave of MS-13 violence in 2016 and 2017.
Saenz, also known as “Funny,” was a high-ranking member of the Brentwood/Central Islip chapter of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside clique of MS-13, according to federal prosecutors.
He pleaded guilty in January 2025 to racketeering and other crimes. His sentence, imposed Sept. 15 in Central Islip, reflected his participation in seven murders, three attempted murders, arson, narcotics trafficking, firearms offenses and a conspiracy to kill another man who was later murdered by other MS-13 members.
Here are the seven killings prosecutors said were part of Saenz’s racketeering crimes.
Michael Johnson, 29
Johnson was killed Jan. 28, 2016, after MS-13 members encountered him at the Jocorena Deli in Brentwood and believed he was a member of the rival Bloods gang.
Prosecutors said Johnson was lured to a wooded area in Brentwood, where Saenz and other gang members participated in the attack. His body was discovered Feb. 2.
Oscar Acosta, 19
Acosta was killed April 29, 2016, after members of MS-13 suspected he was associating with the rival 18th Street gang, prosecutors said.
He was initially attacked in a wooded area near an elementary school in Brentwood before being taken to another wooded location near the former Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital.
Prosecutors said Jairo and Alexi Saenz supervised the killing. Acosta’s body was found in a shallow grave nearly five months later.
Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16
Mickens and Cuevas, both Brentwood High School students, were killed Sept. 13, 2016.
Federal prosecutors said Cuevas had been involved in disputes with MS-13 members, including an altercation at Brentwood High School about a week before the murders.
Gang members later spotted Cuevas and Mickens walking on Stahley Street in Brentwood and contacted the Saenz brothers for permission to kill them, prosecutors said.
Several gang members chased and attacked the girls while the Saenz brothers drove nearby watching for police.
Mickens was found later that night. Cuevas was found the following day.
Javier Castillo, 15
Castillo, who lived in Central Islip, was targeted because MS-13 members believed he belonged to the rival 18th Street gang, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 10, 2016, Saenz and other gang members convinced Castillo to travel with them to Freeport.
Prosecutors said he was taken to an isolated area of Cow Meadow Park and killed. His body was buried and was not recovered until October 2017.
Dewann Stacks, 34
Stacks was killed Oct. 13, 2016, after the Saenz brothers and other MS-13 members encountered him while searching for suspected rival gang members in Brentwood and Central Islip, prosecutors said.
Jairo Saenz drove three gang members to Stacks on American Boulevard in Brentwood, where prosecutors said he was attacked and killed.
Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, 29
Alvarado-Bonilla was killed Jan. 30, 2017, inside El Campesino Deli in Central Islip.
Prosecutors said gang members noticed that Alvarado-Bonilla was wearing a football jersey with the number 18 and concluded that he was a rival gang member.
Jairo Saenz later drove MS-13 members to obtain a mask and another vehicle for the killing, prosecutors said.
A masked gunman entered the deli and shot Alvarado-Bonilla multiple times. A bullet also struck a female deli employee, who survived.
Saenz was also involved in attempted murders in Brentwood, the burning of a vehicle during a gang dispute and a drug trafficking operation that prosecutors said helped finance MS-13 activities.
His brother, Alexi Saenz, pleaded guilty to related crimes in 2024 and was sentenced to 68 years in federal prison in July 2025.
The cases were investigated by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
