The evil MS-13 member known as “Little Devil” was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her part in luring four men to be hacked to death in a Long Island park.
Leniz Escobar, 24, “willingly and enthusiastically” helped plan and carry out the April 2017 killing, US Judge Joseph Bianco said at the sentencing in Central Islip Tuesday.
Escobar – who was known as “Diablita,” or “Little Devil” – was convicted in 2022 of four counts of murder in aid of racketeering and one county of racketeering in connection with the horrifying crime.
Escobar told the court that she knew the pain and heartbreak she had caused.
“All I can do is hurt,” she said tearfully. “Every breath reminds me that they are not here and their families are in pain. If I could trade places with them and take away that pain, I would.”
Escobar was only 17 when she convinced other members of the MS-13 gang to kill Miguel Lopez, 20, Justin Llivicura, 16, and Jefferson Villalobos and Jose Tigre, both 18, by showing them social media pictures of the victims supposedly mocking the group with gang signs.
She felt “personally offended” that one of the victims had worn items typically associated with the gang even though he was not a member, Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Farrell said.
She then lured the young men to the park under the guise of smoking marijuana with them, according to Farrell.
After the other gang members hacked the men to death with machetes, Escobar bragged about her role in the plot and instructed others to destroy evidence and evade investigators.
“She was one of the most culpable people,” Farrell said Tuesday. “Without her, these murders would not have occurred.”
With Post wires
