Central Islip Judge Joseph Bianco decided that MS-13 gang members should not get the same penalty as Americans would receive for murder. And not just one murder but four murders. 18-year-old Josue Portillo brutally stabbed four rival gang members to death in a nearby park.
The Prosecutors asked for a life sentence, but this obviously liberal judge sentenced him to just 55 years, which means he could be out by time he is 55 years of age or less. The families of the victims are not happy with the sentencing, since they have lost their loved ones forever.
Central Islip Judge Joseph Bianco cited the murderer’s age and the plea deal in his decision.
Portillo admitted to the stabbing murder of four suspected rival gang members in a Central Islip municipal park. Prosecutors called it a “horrific frenzy of violence” which included bludgeoning of the victims with tree limbs.
Lourdes Banega, the mother of one of the victims, said she was in therapy to deal with the horrific killing of her son.
“Two years ago, we were a happy family,” Banega said. “And he destroyed everything. Everything.
“My dreams were gone the night that Portillo killed my son,” she added as she sobbed.
Portillo’s lawyer argued in court that his client was handed a bad deal in life, starting when he was abandoned by his parents in El Salvador to be raised by his 68-year-old grandmother.
Portillo said through an interpreter that he was “consumed by soccer, girls and marijuana,” as an MS-13 gang member.
His lawyer says he plans to appeal the sentence.