An MS-13 gang member whooped it up, shouting "The beast has eaten!" after murdering a Queens man he mistook for a rival Blood, a government witness testified Thursday. Julio Chavez is charged with emptying his revolver into Maurice Parker on May 18, 2007, in Flushing.
Chavez then hopped into a SUV, flashed gang signs and yelled in Spanish, former MS-13 gang member Jose Molina said in Brooklyn Federal Court.
" 'Yeah, homie, that's how you're supposed to do it,'" Chavez said, according to Molina. "'You see the blood coming out of his head?'"
Molina said Chavez then uttered, "The beast has eaten!"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Kazemi asked the witness to translate the meaning of Chavez's rant.
"That he had just given a soul to the devil," Molina said.
Parker, 21, was not a Blood and was mistakenly targeted because he had on red sweatshirt.
Chavez and other members of a Long Island-based MS-13 crew allegedly went hunting for a Blood to retaliate for an earlier stabbing.
Defense lawyer Sam Schmidt ridiculed the rant attributed to Chavez, arguing that the witness had never mentioned it before in debriefings with agents.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors announced Thursday they will seek the death penalty against MS-13 gang member Rene Mejia, who allegedly helped execute a Long Island mother and her 2-year-old son last year.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/03/04/2011-03-04_he_had_just_given_a_soul_to_the_devil_witness_recalls_slay_susps_rant.html#ixzz1FeJrNqSX