MS-13 leader pleads guilty to murdering former Freeport High student

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The leader of MS-13’s Hollywood Clique, David Sosa-Guevara, 28, from Wyandanch, also known by his street name “Risky,” pleaded guilty on Dec. 10 to the murder of Angel Soler and to conspiracy for planning to kill another person, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Sosa-Guevara is expected to be sentenced to up to 24 years in prison and will return to court for sentencing on Jan. 24 next year, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.

His plea comes two months after fellow Hollywood clique member Dennis Lopez, 20, also known as Elmer Guillen Marroquin and “Maliante,” admitted his guilt before Nassau County Court Judge Meryl Berkowitz, pleading to second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree conspiracy.

Sosa-Guevara "sanctioned numerous acts of violence and reported back to MS-13 leadership in El Salvador,” Singas said. “With this plea, we’ve ensured that one of the most dangerous defendants we’ve seen in Nassau County will be held accountable for his reprehensible behavior.”

Lopez also pleaded guilty to murdering Soler, a Roosevelt teen and one-time Freeport High School student, in July 2017, and was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison on Oct. 7.

On July 21, 2017, at around 5 p.m., Soler took off from his Roosevelt home on his green bicycle. Hours later, he was hacked to death with machetes in the woods off the Southern State Parkway, between Baldwin and Roosevelt, by members of the notorious El Salvadoran gang MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, according to authorities. Soler was missing for three months before his remains were found and indentified October 2017.

Singas also said that Sosa-Guevara directed his members to collaborate with the Sailors Clique on Long Island, another violent sect of MS-13. As the head of the Hollywood Clique, he ordered fellow gang members to kill Soler, while he himself was not present at the murder.

“Yesterday, defendant David Sosa Guevara pled guilty to ordering the murder of Angel Soler and planning the murder of another person," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said. "As victims were discovered, law enforcement continued their in-depth sweeping investigations to bring this defendant and others to justice for these brutal murders. I would like to praise and thank all of the investigators and their agencies for their diligence and hard work during these investigations."

Singas also said that Sosa-Guevara planned the murder, with other members of the gang, of an alleged MS-13 member who was believed to have been disloyal to the gang and ordered the movement of weapons to Maryland for that murder.

In Sosa-Guevara’s speech in court, he said MS-13’s Hollywood and Sailor cliques conducted criminal activities that included murder, assault, drug trafficking, money transfers, member movements, member punishment and rival gang retribution. Sosa-Guevara also admitted that he reported to gang leadership in El Salvador and the United States, and the Hollywood clique’s profits were shared with gang leaders in El Salvador, documents show.

Defendants Victor Lopez, Josue Antonio Figueroa Velasquez and Kevin Morales Lopez were arrested in August 2018, also on murder charges related to Soler’s death. Their cases are pending.