Federal prosecutors have indicted 11 members of the BB7 faction of the Trinitarios gang for a series of violent crimes across the Bronx, New Jersey, and the Hudson Valley. The charges include the August 2025 murder of influencer Ariela Mejia-Polanco and the targeted robbery of a prominent Dominican musician.
The August 2025 killing of Ariela La Langosta
A central component of the federal case is the death of Ariela Mejia-Polanco, a 32-year-old mother and social media influencer known as Ariela La Langosta.. according to the indictment, Mejia-Polanco, who had over 500,000 Instagram followers,was targeted by six defendants: Justin Martha, Michael Mercedes Marte, Jose Peralta Gomez, Manuel Abad Rivas, Wilfren Carbuccia, and Jeilin Portes Guaba.
The report says the group approached Mejia-Polanco in a black Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG SUV with the intent to carjack her. When she resisted the attempt, the defendants shot and killed her, turning a high-end vehicle theft attempt into a homicide.
GPS tracking and the robbery of Bulin 47
The BB7 faction's criminal reach extended beyond the Bronx, utilizing sophisticated surveillance to target high-profile individuals. In June 2025, the gang carried out an armed robbery of the Dominican musician Bulin 47. As reported in the federal charges, gang memebrs used a GPS tracking device to monitor the artist's movements from Massachusetts to a hotel parking lot in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where they stole valuable jewelry.
While eleven members of the BB7 faction were indicted in the broader sweep, a twelfth individual, Jarol Ledesma, was specifically charged with interstate stalking and Hobbs Act robbery in connection with the Bulin 47 heist. This indicates a coordinated effort to track targets across state lines.
Darwin Martinez and the July 2025 Bronx car meet murders
The violence attributed to the BB7 faction includes other lethal encounters. One defendant, Darwin Martinez—known by the alias "Mole"—faces separate charges for the July 2025 murders of Adam Waldropt and Gabriel Alvarez. These killings occurred during a car meet in the Bronx, highlighting the gang's willingness to execute violence in crowded, public settings.
These incidents are part of a broader 15-count indictment covering a campaign of crime that spanned from September 2023 through September 2025. The charges encompass not only murder and assault but also wire fraud, carjacking, and narcotics trafficking.
The BB7 faction's bridge between street and prison gangs
The Trinitarios have long operated as a hybrid organization with deep roots in both urban street corners and the prison system. This specific crackdown on the BB7 faction reflects a broader trend of federal agencies targeting the "pipeline" that allows prison-based leadership to direct street-level violence. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton noted that the gang operated "night after night," treating the Bronx as a primary operational base.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch attributed the arrests to a "precision policing strategy," suggesting that the city is moving away from broad sweeps in favor of intelligence-led operations targeting specific high-violence cells.. This approach is designed to incapacitate the organization's leadership and its most violent enforcers simultaneously.
The role of Jarol Ledesma and the 15-count indictment
Despite the comprehensive nature of the 15-count indictment, several details remain unclear. It is not yet known if Jarol Ledesma was a formal member of the BB7 faction or a contracted associate brought in specifically for the technical aspects of the Bulin 47 robbery.. Additionally,the source does not specify the nature of the wire fraud charges or how the gang's narcotics trafficking operations funded their high-end equipment, such as the GPS trackers and luxury SUVs.
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