Victims Dumped In Ridgewood Lot
Nearly eight years after allegedly murdering two rivals and dumping their bodies behind a Ridgewood factory, three reputed gangsters were booked by federal law enforcement agents for the double homicide last Tuesday, May 22, it was reported.
They were identified by law enforcement sources as Luis (a.k.a. Lae) Benitez, Alvaro (a.k.a. Boobie) Cabral and Jason (a.k.a. J-Live) Cabral, each of whom were indicted in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, L.I., for the August 2004 slayings of Anthony Marcano and Fabian Mestres, both 17-year-old residents of Central Islip.
Reportedly, Benitez was arraigned on the charges in the Long Island federal courtroom last Tuesday, while the Cabrals were arrested in Tampa, Fla. and arraigned in a Middle Florida U.S. District courtroom.
“These charges are particularly heinous because they involve the senseless murder of two adolescents,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch in a statement issued last Tuesfor
“The passage of time in no way will lessen our commitment to ensuring that justice is served.”
Federal agents said that Benitez, Alvaro Cabral and Jason Cabral were allegedly members of the Netas gang on Long Island and targeted Marcano, who was a member of the rival Latin Kings gang.
According to the charges, the three suspects allegedly carried out a plot directed by Jason Cabral to rob and kill Marcano on Aug. 10, 2004, luring him to a residence in the Long Island village of Brentwood.
Reportedly, Marcano and Mestres-identified as a “pee wee” member of the Latin Kings-arrived at the home together and were restrained with duct tape. After being bound, federal law enforcement sources said, the perpetrators robbed both teenagers of property including drugs, cash and jewelry.
Marcano and Mestres were then stuffed into the trunk of a car and driven to an undisclosed location, where authorities charged Benitez fatally shot both teenagers with a shotgun. Federal agents said Marcano was shot in the head and neck, while Mestres received a fatal gunshot wound to his head.
Their bodies, still bound with duct tape, were later dumped near a warehouse in the vicinity of Seneca and Flushing avenues on the Ridgewood/ Bushwick border, where they were discovered on Aug. 11, 2004, the day after their murder.
Lynch thanked the Suffolk County Police Department, the FBI’s New York and Tampa offices and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida for their cooperation in the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Boeckmann and Christopher Caffarone are prosecuting the case.
The investigation is ongoing, law enforcement agents said.
