This was no laughing matter.
A high-ranking member of the vicious migrant gang MS-13 nicknamed “Funny” couldn’t stop smiling in federal court Tuesday — even as he was slammed with a 60-year sentence for seven brutal murders.
Jairo Saenz, a honcho with the gang’s Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside clique, smirked as he pleaded guilty to his role in fatal attacks dating to 2016, including giving the order to kill two high school girls who the gang believed disrespected them on social media.
Brentwood High School students Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, were beaten and hacked to death on Sept. 13, 2016, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said.
“My reaction to that is that he’s trying to see his family for the last time because he’ll never see them again,” Mickens’ mother, Elizabeth Alvarado, said outside the courtroom. “What he did to my daughter is the same thing — I’ll never see her again.”
Saenz, 28, and his brother, Alexi, were among reputed MS-13 members indicted by the feds in 2017.
Alexi Saenz, known as “Blatsy” and “Plaky,” pleaded guilty to eight murders, including the two teens, in July, and could spend up to 70 years in prison — with the deal contingent on his brother also taking a plea.
That finally happened Tuesday.
“Today, Jairo Saenz pleaded guilty to seven murders that can only be described as barbaric, and multiple acts of senseless gang violence that had turned parts of Long Island into a war zone,” Acting US Attorney Carolyn Pokorny said in a statement after the proceedings.
“It is my sincere hope that today’s guilty plea brings some measure of solace and closure to the families of the defendant’s victims who continue to mourn the deaths of their loved ones,” Pokorny said.
In court, Jairo Saenz couldn’t keep a smile off his face, turning several times to make eye contact with his mother and sister in the courtroom.
“I came to this country and worked for two years before joining in 13,” the killer said in a statement in Spanish read by his attorney. “I knew MS-13 was a gang back in El Salvador. I know that MS-13 had members in Franklin and Central Islip. We agreed to kill a man.”
In the statement, Jaenz then went on to admit to the string of vicious killings.
In addition to the teens he ordered killed, Saenz admitted to the slaying of Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla at an East Islip deli on Jan. 30, 2017, targeted because he wore a No.18 jersey that the gang took to mean he was a member of a rival crew, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 10, 2016, he ordered the death of 15-year-old Javier Castillo, who was hacked to death in Freeport as a reputed rival, and three days later, he drove three MS-13 members to kill Dewann Stacks, also believing him to be affiliated with a rival gang.
Then, on Sept. 5, 2016, the Saenz brothers shot and killed Marcus Bohannon, believing he was a member of the rival Bloods gang, hitting him with nine slugs.
On April 29, 2016, Saenz gave the green light for the gang to kill Oscar Acosta for suspected dealings with the rival 18th Street gang, prosecutors said.
In the earliest murder, Saenz and other gang members lured Michael Johnson into the woods to smoke weed, only to ambush him and hack him to death with knives and machetes.
Saenz also pleaded guilty to racketeering, arson and attempted murder charges.
Johnson’s father, George Johnson, said outside the courtroom Tuesday that he still mourns his loss.
“I’m getting closer to the closure I’ve been seeking for the last eight years,” the elder Johnson said. “I wasn’t happy with the smile, but I guess he’s got nothing else to show for his actions.
“He’s not happy,” he added. “I know he can’t be happy where he’s at.”
Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer
