'MS-13 Clique': Is ABC News for Real?

The mainstream media has often been out with some pretty outrageous takes, including and especially when it comes to President Donald Trump's best issue, immigration. ABC News may have truly outdone themselves this week, though, with their framing of dangerous MS-13 gangs.

In an article about a violent MS-13 gang member leader, who was facing federal racketeering case involving eight murders, as well as a post shared over X about the article, ABC News used the term "MS-13 clique."

"The leader of an MS-13 gang clique in the New York City suburbs is facing sentencing in a federal racketeering case involving eight murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls on Long Island," read the article's subheadline, with the post over X using similar language, adding how those murders "focused the nation’s attention on the violent gang."

The leader of an MS-13 clique in the suburbs of New York City faces sentencing Wednesday in a federal racketeering case involving eight murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls that focused the nation’s attention on the violent gang. https://t.co/T3p6jtqHVB
— ABC News (@ABC) July 2, 2025

The curious decision of ABC referring to the gang leader, Alexi Saenz, as being part of a "clique" is one they went with several times throughout the article. And this is one bad dude we're talking about here.

As the article mentions:

Alexi Saenz pleaded guilty last year for his role in ordering and approving the killings as well as other crimes during a rash of bloody violence that prompted President Donald Trump to make several visits to Long Island and call for the death penalty for Saenz and other gang members during his first term in the White House.
Saenz’s lawyers are seeking a sentence of 45 years behind bars, but prosecutors want the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 70 years.
Prosecutors, who previously withdrew their intent to seek the death penalty, say Saenz deserves to live out his days in prison for his “senseless” and “sadistic” crimes.
“The eight victims who lost their lives did nothing to deserve what the MS-13 did to them,” they wrote in legal filings ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. “The defendant and the others killed them in service of the gang without remorse or any regard for them as human beings.”
...
Prosecutors, however, counter that Saenz has remained “firmly entrenched” in MS-13 while in a federal lockup in Brooklyn for the past eight years.
They cited photos of him posing with other gang members behind bars and displaying gang signs and gang paraphernalia. They also say Saenz has been disciplined for assaulting other inmates, refusing staff orders and possessing sharpened metal shanks, cellphones and other contraband.
“Indeed, the same pattern of violence and mayhem that has marked his life on the street has not waned with the passage of time,” prosecutors wrote.
Saenz, also known as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” was the leader of an MS-13 clique operating in Brentwood and Central Islip known as Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside.
He admitted last July that he’d authorized the eight killings and three other attempted killings of perceived rivals and others that had disrespected or feuded with the clique.
Saenz also admitted to arson, firearms offenses and drug trafficking — the proceeds of which went toward buying firearms, more drugs and providing contributions to the wider MS-13 gang.
Among the killings Saenz oversaw were the deaths of Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, lifelong friends and classmates at Brentwood High School who were slain with a machete and a baseball bat.
Other victims included Javier Castillo, 15, of Central Islip, who was befriended by gang members only to be cut down with a machete in an isolated marsh.
Another victim, Oscar Acosta, 19, was found dead in a wooded area near railroad tracks nearly five months after he left his Brentwood home to play soccer.