Junior’s Killers Get 25 Years

Justice for Junior

Trinitarios Gang Members Fatally Stabbed Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz Sentenced 

BRONX - The Trinitarios gang members who killed Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz were sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder.

District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that two leaders of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang have been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for their roles in the June 20, 2018 fatal stabbing of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz.

Clark said, “The defendants, leaders of a Trinitarios set, instructed their members to carry out violent acts, which resulted in the killing of Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz. The cruel attack was caught on surveillance video and went viral. The shocking images of Junior’s last moments saddened and outraged all who saw them.

“Today, the leaders whose order meant death for a 15-year-old boy were sentenced to 25 years to life years in prison. Junior’s family has suffered immensely and will forever miss him,” Clark said. “We hope today’s sentence brings some peace to them and the Bronx community.”

 

Clark said the defendants, Diego Suero, 33, of Boston Road, and Frederick Then, 24, of Reading, PA, were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Martin Marcus. Suero and Then were found guilty of second-degree Murder by a jury after a four-week trial on July 29, 2022.

According to trial testimony, on the night of June 20, 2018, Suero, the leader of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang, and Then, second-in-command, summoned members to Suero’s home and ordered them to commit violence against another set of the Trinitarios called “Sunset.”

 

The gang members came upon Junior and chased him to a bodega located on East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue, where he tried to hide. The teen was punched and dragged out of the store to the sidewalk where he was hacked with knives and a machete by five convicted co-defendants. 

The victim received a fatal knife wound to his neck, among other injuries. He ran to St. Barnabas Hospital and collapsed. He was pronounced dead shortly after.

 

According to trial testimony, Then watched the attack and later called Suero to tell him the members had carried out the orders. The killers, led by Then, returned to Suero’s home to hide weapons and provide aid to a defendant who cut his hand during the incident.

 

According to trial testimony, in a message to Suero, a Trinitario said, “You are the one that gave the light for the kid…” to which Suero replied, “yes, for all of Sunset.”

 

Five co-defendants were sentenced in 2019 for fatally stabbing the victim. The cases against the remaining co-defendants are pending.