BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Edenilson Velasquez Larin, the suspected leader of the transnational MS-13 gang, has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges filed against him by the government.
Larin was detained on June 7 after a traffic stop on the Ohio Turnpike. He was indicted two weeks later, accused of trafficking drugs and ordering multiple murders on Long Island.
In a court appearance late last week in the Eastern District Court of New York, Velasquez Larin pleaded not guilty to those charges, but Judge Vera Scanlon denied him bail. One of the reasons cited in court documents was "History of violence or use of weapons." Government attorneys alleged in previous documents that Velasquez Larin ordered murders to prevent a rival gang from encroaching on their Long Island drug territory.
Velasquez Larin and 22 other MS-13 members were indicted last month and accused of terrorizing Long Island neighborhoods with murders, attempted murders and assaults in an attempt to protect their drug trafficking, which allegedly included cocaine and marijuana.
The suspected MS-13 head was held for several weeks in the Lucas County Jail under maximum security.
In a status letter filed earlier this month, federal prosecutors said Velasquez Larin, Tito Martinez-Alvarenga, Jose Espinoza Sanchez, Oscar Hernandez Baires, Emerson Martinez-Lara and Ismael Santos-Novoa are eligible for the death penalty for allegedly carrying out murders dating back to 2018. It has yet to be decided whether the death penalty will be pursued.
Velasquez Larin faces the following charges:
- racketeering conspiracy
- murder in-aid-of racketeering
- assault in-aid-of racketeering
- attempted murder in-aid-of racketeering
- unlawful use, possession, brandishing and discharging of firearms
- causing death through use of firearms
- conspiracy to commit murder in-aid-of racketeering
- money laundering conspiracy
- narcotics distribution conspiracy
- continuing criminal enterprise
The June 7 arrest by an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper from the Bucyrus District was captured on the trooper’s body cam.
When Velasquez Larin was asked to step into the back of the trooper’s car, he offered no resistance.