A Southeast Queens gang leader was sentenced to 45 years in prison in Brooklyn federal court after he admitted to murdering two rivals and recording one victim being stabbed more than 100 times then sending the video to other gangbangers as a stark warning to never cooperate with law enforcement.
Yanki Misael Cruz-Mateo, 25, of Jamaica, a member of the 18th Street gang, a transnational organization, pleaded guilty in March to racketeering conspiracy in connection with the murder of an MS-13 gang member in Jamaica Hills and a fellow gang member who was suspected of snitching to police.
According to court filings and proceedings, Cruz-Mateo, known on the streets as “Yankee Mateo,” was a member of the Jamaica-based Shatto Park Locos Sureños sect of the 18th Street gang when he shot and killed 20-year-old Oscar Antonio Blanco-Hernandez, a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, on 160th Street near 85th Avenue in Jamaica Hills on Feb. 2, 2018. Hernandez was found dead with gunshots to his head and groin.
The previous year, Cruz-Mateo lured a fellow gang member, 20-year-old Jonathan Figueroa, to travel with him from Queens to Kingston, in upstate Ulster County, where on the night of Oct. 24, 2017, they met up with other 18th Street gang members.
Hours later, during the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 2017, they brought Figueroa to Turkey Point State Forest where they stabbed him to death and buried him in a shallow grave. Cruz-Mateo ordered the brutal slaying to be video-recorded, capturing multiple 18th Street gang associates repeatedly stabbing Figueroa, slashing his throat, amputating his ear, and dragging his body.
In the grisly video, Cruz-Mateo stated that Figueroa was being murdered for “being a rat.” Cruz-Mateo then sent the video to other 18th Street gang members as a warning not to disrespect the gang or cooperate with law enforcement.
The FBI discovered Figueroa’s body in February 2018, along with state and local law enforcement authorities, in a five-foot-deep makeshift grave. He had more than a hundred stab wounds, including one to the head that was inflicted with such force that it fractured his skull, and he had a slash wound to the throat that ruptured his trachea.
After murdering Blanco-Hernandez in Jamaica Hills, Cruz-Mateo fled Queens and returned to upstate Kingston. He was arrested by FBI agents in February of 2018 following a statewide manhunt. He was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison on Wednesday, April 30.
“Cruz-Mateo committed two horrific murders and boasted about the carnage in video and text messages to instill fear, exact retribution, and promote gang violence,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said. The lengthy sentence…delivers a powerful message that senseless violence carries serious consequences. It is my sincere hope that the justice meted out today provides a measure of comfort and closure for the victims’ loved ones.”
The Justice Department announced on Monday that Durham stepped down and Joseph Nocella Jr. has begun serving as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Immediately before his appointment, Nocella, 60, was serving as a Nassau County Family Court Judge after several years of service as a Nassau County District Judge.
