A decade-old Brentwood killing and a 2023 Maryland murder are now tied to the same federal case, with prosecutors accusing two Long Island MS-13 members of helping carry out both slayings. The indictment also reaches into a later Suffolk County murder conspiracy, adding another grim chapter to the gang’s long-running presence on Long Island.
Edwin Chavez-Garay, 25, of Brentwood, and Jairo Diaz-Gamez, 27, of Bay Shore, were arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Central Islip on a second superseding indictment, according to EDNY. Both men are accused of belonging to the Vegas Locos Salvatruchas clique, and Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields ordered them detained pending trial. A federal grand jury returned the indictment on July 30.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also summarized the case in EDNY’s X post, describing charges tied to the 2016 Brentwood murder and the 2023 killing of a Long Island man in Maryland.
Two MS-13 Gang Members Indicted for a 2016 Murder in Brentwood and 2023 Murder of Long Island Man in Maryland
— U.S. Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) August 4, 2026
The Brentwood Case Began With A Missing 15-Year-Old
Prosecutors allege Chavez-Garay and Diaz-Gamez lured 15-year-old Miguel Garcia-Moran to a wooded area behind 80 Emjay Boulevard in Brentwood on February 19, 2016, believing he was connected to a rival gang. The indictment says the boy was beaten to death with metal rods, and his skeletal remains were discovered months later while investigators searched the area for evidence connected to another killing, according to federal prosecutors.
Garcia-Moran’s remains were identified in September 2016, during a period when several young people disappeared or were found dead in Brentwood. News 12 reported at the time that police had identified the remains as those of the missing Brentwood teen and were examining possible links to gang violence.
The Maryland Murder Allegedly Followed A Fall From Favor
The second murder involved Carlos Lemus Interiano, a Huntington resident and alleged member of the same MS-13 clique. The federal detention filing alleges that Chavez-Garay and Diaz-Gamez drove Lemus Interiano to Maryland on August 19, 2023, where he was shot and killed in a wooded area after falling out of favor with the gang.
Authorities recovered an arm bone believed to belong to Lemus Interiano in February 2025 while searching Piscataway Stream Valley Park in Fort Washington, Maryland, prosecutors said. A later excavation uncovered additional human remains, clothing and a bullet, according to the federal case filings.
The indictment also accuses the two men of joining a conspiracy to kill Carlos Lopez-Lopez, a former MS-13 member who was stabbed and drowned in Blue Point in March 2025. Prosecutors say Lopez-Lopez was targeted because gang members believed he was cooperating with law enforcement, and three other defendants have already been charged in that killing.
Both Defendants Face Severe Federal Penalties If Convicted
The charges include racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and a drug-trafficking conspiracy involving cocaine and marijuana. If convicted of the murder-related charges, the defendants could face mandatory life sentences or the possibility of the death penalty, according to the government’s detention filing.
Those are allegations, not convictions, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The case is being prosecuted by the Long Island Criminal Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with assistance from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and multiple law enforcement agencies in New York and Maryland.
The new indictment arrives amid a broader federal push against MS-13 cases spanning Long Island and other states. Earlier Hoodline coverage tracked that campaign, which has increasingly focused on connecting local killings, gang leadership and cross-state operations in one federal docket.
