Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced Monday the indictment of eight members of the violent 18th St. Gang, including the leader of their Queens crew, on racketeering, assault and other charges.
The suspects are all accused of being members of the “54 Tiny Locos” clique of the 18th St. Gang — a transnational gang and MS-13 rival that got its start in Los Angeles and spread to Mexico and Central America. All of the suspects except one have no legal status in the U.S., according to court documents.
Felix Bonilla Ramos, 36, the clique’s “shot caller,” led an operation dating back to at least 2017 that took control of a commercial corridor along Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, funding their brutal reign by counterfeiting cash, driver’s licenses and other documents, the feds allege.
“The gang’s reign of violence ends today,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said at a press conference Monday. “Despite what the gang believes, Roosevelt Ave. is not their territory. It is all of ours. … It should be known for exactly what it truly is — a vibrant community where hardworking families live, work, and send their children to school.”
DOJ
Blood is seen outside a Queens bar in January 2022 after members of the 18th Street gang allegedly attacked two people. (DOJ)
The suspects were charged in three brutal assaults from December 2021 to June 2024, and are also accused of selling drugs and extorting businesses and other criminals, including counterfeiters and brothels, for “rent.”
“For years they’ve operated as an open-air market for counterfeiting, specifically counterfeit currency,” Nocella said.
They were so proud of their counterfeiting operation that one suspect, Marco “Matute” Vidal Menendez, 36, kept a doctored photo of several members posing and flashing hand signs superimposed over a Social Security card, prosecutors allege.
In one assault, on New Year’s Eve 2021, Bonilla Ramos, Orlando “Niñote” Ramirez, 24, Uriel “Tanke” Lopez, 30, and another man confronted a man and his friend outside a Queens bar, asked if he was in a gang, and beat him badly, smashing him in the head with a tequila bottle, the feds allege.
DOJ
The 18th Street Gang is accused of producing fraudulent documents, including permanent resident cards, passports and Social Security cards as well as cash. (DOJ)
In another attack, on Jan. 15, 2022, Lopez, Ramirez and a third man dragged a man out of a bar, stabbed him and beat him, and left him bloody in an alley with injuries to his lung, the feds allege. They then attacked another victim outside the same location, beating him with wooden planks.
On June 20, 2024, Margarito “Pinocchio” Ortega, 38, German “Loco” Rodriguez, 34, David “Teba” Vasquez Corona, 29, and Vidal Menendez beat a man believed to be a rival gang member with a bike lock and a metal chair in a parking lot, the feds allege.
The suspects are also separately linked to 13 more assaults, including two shootings, several of which resulted in state court charges.
DOJ
A firearm (left) and ammunition (right) were seized from alleged members of the 18th Street Gang. (DOJ)
“Nobody owns the streets of New York, nobody owns the streets of Queens County,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said at the press conference.
Seven of the suspects face arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday afternoon, while the eighth is expected to be arraigned Tuesday.
Originally Published: