CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The leader of an MS-13 clique in New York City’s suburbs was sentenced Wednesday to 68 years in prison in a federal racketeering case involving eight Long Island murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls that focused the nation’s attention on the violent Central American street gang.
Alexi Saenz pleaded guilty last year for his role in ordering and approving the killings as well as other crimes during a rash of bloody violence that prompted President Donald Trump to make several visits to Long Island and call for the death penalty for Saenz and other gang members during his first term in the White House.
Saenz’s lawyers sought a sentence of 45 years behind bars, but prosecutors, who previously withdrew their intent to seek the death penalty, argued for a maximum sentence of 70 years.
Saenz, addressing the court, asked for forgiveness from