NYPD Not At President Trump's MS-13 Meeting On Long Island
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD did not send a representative to President Donald Trump's Long Island meeting with law enforcement on the violent MS-13 street gang.
"We have a lot to do, a lot of work to do in New York City," said Police Commissioner James O'Neill.
New York is a so-called sanctuary city and the president has used MS-13 as one of the reasons for the stepped up use of deportation.
On Thursday, two of the gang's reputed members were arrested in Hempstead for a killing in May in Flushing, Queens.
"While we were there we recovered four guns -- three .9-millimeters and one .22 caliber pistol," Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. "We also arrested two individuals -- Roberto Reyes aka 'Splinter' and Jose Ramirez aka 'Smoker.'"
The victim, 39-year-old Fernando Gonzalez-Chavez had the number "13" tattooed on his neck.
"We believe it's gang-related, some issue within the MS-13 gang," Boyce said.
The gang with roots in Central America has not infiltrated city neighborhoods at the rate it has on Long Island.
"We're concerned that this is spreading but we're working with Suffolk County, the FBI as well as Nassau County and Hempstead police as well," Boyce said.
The president is set to speak at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, close to where MS-13 has committed a string of gruesome murders, including the massacre of four young men in April in a Central Islip park.
Last year, authorities said two teen girls in Brentwood were murdered by gang members as well.
