Overview

• On July 16, 2025, Kevin Cuevas Del Cid admitted in federal court in Central Islip to racketeering conspiracy for the machete murders of Kerin Pineda and Javier Castillo and a related cocaine and marijuana distribution scheme.
• Prosecutors said Del Cid created a fake female Facebook profile to lure 20-year-old Pineda to a secluded wooded area near the Merrick-Freeport border where he and other MS-13 members hacked him to death.
• He also confessed to persuading 15-year-old Castillo to Cow Meadow Park under the guise of smoking marijuana and then taking part in his killing and burial in October 2016.
• Originally charged by juvenile information in 2020, Del Cid was ordered into adult court in 2022 and became the last of six Sailors clique members to enter a guilty plea in the Pineda slaying.
• The case is part of Operation Take Back America and an OCDETF investigation that has resulted in dozens of MS-13 convictions in the Eastern District of New York, with sentencing set for December 2.