Dozens of alleged MS-13 gang members indicted on Long Island

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - The Nassau County District Attorney said that more dangerous MS-13 gang members are now off the streets. Police call this a war. And that war is being fought on the streets of Long Island among children as young as 8-years-old.

Their members' weapon of choice: the machete.

"Their motive here on Long Island is not profit but terror," DA Madeleine Singas said. He announced the indictments of 41 alleged gang members of MS-13. They're facing a total of 85 charges that include attempted murder. The crimes were committed during what prosecutors call a four-year wave of violence.

"With these arrests, 41 of MS-13's worst are facing serious criminal charges -- 35 face up to 25 years to life incarceration," Singas said.

The indictments came a day after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a local task force that will use criminal arrests and civil immigration powers to go after gang members.

Police said MS-13 gang members are behind a Central Islip quadruple homicide in April and the September killings of two teenage girls from Brentwood. Long Island authorities said MS-13 is connected to almost a dozen murders in Suffolk County in the last year alone.

"They can never leave the gang and if they do, those who try are often greenlighted for death," Singas said.

Officials said long island has the biggest presence of MS-13 in the entire metro area. But with the arrests of these 41 men, law enforcement officials said that now MS-13 members should be fearful.

"We will not tolerate gang activity here in Nassau County," Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said. "And to be quite blunt, neither will the residents."

Many of alleged MS-13 gang members came to the United States without their parents, leaving them vulnerable to gangs. Some were indoctrinated as young as 8 years old.