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Posted on: August 9, 2022

Two MS-13 Members Sentenced for 2017 Homicide in Uniondale

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Defendants hacked 22-year-old Carlos Rivas-Majano to death with machete 

MINEOLA, N.Y. –Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that two MS-13 members have been sentenced for their roles in the August 2017 machete murder of Carlos Rivas-Majano, whose body was discovered in a wooded area along the Meadowbrook Parkway a year later. 

Luis Alejandro Varela a/k/a/ Felon, 24, of Mineola, and William Reyes-Fuentes a/k/a/ Desobediente, 27, from Uniondale, pleaded guilty on June 24 before Judge Teresa Corrigan to charges of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) and Conspiracy in the Second Degree (a B felony). Judge Corrigan sentenced Varela to 21 years to life in prison and Reyes-Fuentes was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. 

“MS-13 members Luis Alejandro Varela and William Reyes-Fuentes participated in one of the most violent murders this county has ever seen,” said DA Donnelly. “The defendants and their co-conspirators mercilessly hacked Carlos Rivas-Majano to death and left his body in a nearly inaccessible place near the Meadowbrook Parkway. Thanks to extraordinary work from our prosecutors and detectives, we were able to find Carlos’ body and bring his killers to justice.”  

DA Donnelly said that on August 11, 2017, Carlos Rivas-Majano told a family member that he was on his way home from a deli in Uniondale and never returned home. Rivas-Majano, a perceived enemy of the gang, was lured into the woods near the Meadowbrook Parkway and Glen Curtiss Boulevard in Uniondale, where he was hacked and stabbed to death with machetes. The victim’s body was recovered in a sump on August 29, 2018. The assailants are members of the Downtown Criminals clique of MS-13. 

Cases against co-defendants Carlos Benitez-Hernandez a/k/a Malaspecto, and Jose Quintanilla-Cruz a/k/a Destructo and Destructor, and Nerlin Chacon-Ruano a/k/a Callajero are pending. 

Another co-defendant, Edar Ventura, was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to two counts of murder, and related charges, for the deaths of Rivas-Majano and Alexon Moya. 

The case is being prosecuted by Chief Jared Rosenblatt and Senior Litigation Counsel Tracy Keeton of the Homicide Bureau. Varela is represented by William Shanahan, Esq. and Reyes-Fuentes is represented by Steven Barnwell, Esq.

The charges against the remaining defendants are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless found guilty. 

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