Michael Castillo, Murder through Use of Firearm, New York 2011

A shocking case of murder in the Bronx has come to a close with a guilty plea from defendant Michael Castillo, a/k/a ‘Squirrel.’

On March 10, 2011, Castillo shot and killed Hector Arias outside Arias’s home at 712 East Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, New York, in a murder plot that arose out of a rivalry between two marijuana businesses.

According to the allegations in the Indictment and other filings and statements made in court, Castillo was a member of a conspiracy to distribute marijuana centered near 193rd Street and Broadway in New York, New York. He was hired by the leader of the conspiracy, David Espinal, a/k/a ‘D-Block,’ to kill Arias, the leader of a rival marijuana business operating in the same area.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said, ‘Today, Michael Castillo admitted that he shot and killed Hector Arias in 2011. This guilty plea shows that law enforcement will relentlessly seek justice for murder victims and their loved ones, regardless of the passage of time.’

Castillo, 38, pled guilty to one count of murder through the use of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j), which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison.

The statutory maximum and minimum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge.

Castillo is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge John G. Koeltl on October 15, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. His codefendant, Espinal, pled guilty to conspiring to kill Arias, among other offenses, on December 8, 2020.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force in this case.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Jamie Bagliebter, Maurene Comey, Peter Davis, Scott Hartman, Lindsey Keenan, and Jacqueline Kelly are in charge of the prosecution.

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