An accused Queens gang leader pleaded guilty on Monday to ordering the murder of a 15-year-old boy on Long Island in 2016.
Junior Zelaya Canales, now 28, copped to racketeering conspiracy charges in connection with the killing of Joshua Guzman in West Hempstead, the Justice Department announced in a press release.
Zelaya Canales, also known as “Terco,” had been a regional leader in the 18th Street gang, whose “power and control extended across the New York City metropolitan area,” according to the feds.
“Today’s guilty plea marks the end of a sweeping investigation into the violent and disturbing affairs of the 18th Street gang that removed some of the most influential, powerful and ruthless gang leaders and members from city streets across the country,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in the press release.
Zelaya Canales, of Jamaica, Queens, was the ninth and final person named in the indictment to plead guilty. He faces up to life in prison without parole.
According to investigators, Zelaya Canales ordered two lower-level members of the 18th Street gang to kill Guzman after the teen was perceived as being disrespectful to members of the gang.
Guzman was found dead in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, 2016, on a street near his home in West Hempstead. He was shot once in the back of the head, execution style, according to police.
Despite its local name, the 18th Street gang is a sprawling organization founded years ago in Los Angeles and now has members across North America. Its biggest rival is the better-known MS-13.
“These two gangs have turned the Central American northern triangle into the area with the highest homicide rate in the world,” the Justice Department wrote in a 2013 report.