Posted on: October 07, 2021 10:00 AM

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Long Island MS 13 gang member pleads guilty to 2016 murder in Brentwood

Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Ever Flores, a member of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside (Sailors) clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, a transnational criminal organization, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges relating to his participation in the murder of Dewann Stacks and a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana.  The proceeding was held before United States Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco.  

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Stuart Cameron, Acting Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), announced the guilty plea.

“Today’s guilty plea makes clear that the defendant, an MS-13 gang member who admittedly hunted on residential streets in Long Island in order to kill, actively participated in the butchering and beating death of the victim until he was almost unrecognizable,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis.  “This Office and the Long Island Gang Task Force have vowed to end these horrific killings and dismantle the MS-13.” 

“This case is a grim reminder of just how vicious MS-13 can be,” stated SCPD Acting Commissioner Cameron. “This victim was sought out like prey and killed in an act of savagery illustrating the danger this street gang poses. Today, there is one less murderer and drug dealer to plague the streets of Suffolk County, and I commend the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and our law enforcement partners for their continued dedication to bringing individuals like Ever Flores to justice.”

According to prior court filings and Flores’s statements during the plea proceeding, on October 13, 2016, Flores and other MS-13 co-conspirators drove around the streets of Central Islip and Brentwood hunting for rival gang members to attack and kill.  They located Stacks on American Boulevard, a residential street in Brentwood and, believing him to be a rival gang member, decided to kill him.  Flores, wielding a machete, and two other MS-13 members, one armed with a machete and the other a baseball bat, attacked the victim, beating and hacking him to death.  The victim sustained severe sharp and blunt force trauma to the face and head, leaving him nearly unrecognizable.       

In addition, Flores also pleaded guilty to participating in a drug conspiracy, admitting that between April 2016 and October 2017, he and other members of the Sailors clique conspired to distribute cocaine and marijuana to raise money for the MS-13. (From US Attorney’s Office)