{"id":372748,"date":"2026-10-14T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372748\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T08:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:00:14","slug":"4-men-accused-of-killing-burning-young-friends-in-lower-east-side-gang-war-go-on-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372748\/","title":{"rendered":"4 men accused of killing, burning young friends in Lower East Side gang war go on trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trial of four men accused of kidnapping and murdering friends Jesse Parrilla and Nikki Huang \u2014 casualties of an escalating Lower East Side gang war<\/a>\u00a0whose bodies were discovered burned beyond recognition in 2022 \u2014 got off to an emotional start Tuesday, when the mother of one of the victims stormed out of the courtroom during a defense attorney\u2019s opening statement.<\/p>\n

Rahul Cuya, Richard Santiago, Terrence White and Jahmel Sanders appeared in Bronx Supreme Court four years after the bodies of Parrilla and Huang, both 22, were found inside a car on fire<\/a> on Shore Road near Pelham Split Rock Golf Course in Pelham Bay Park.<\/p>\n

A fifth suspect, Stephen Santiago, the older brother of Richard Santiago, is still on the loose.<\/p>\n

\"RahulRahul Cuya, who prosecutors say provided his mother’s Honda Accord and was present when Jesse Parrilla and Nikki Huang were kidnapped in 2022, is pictured during his arraignment inside Bronx Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Before their deaths, Huang and Parrilla went through \u201cthree hours of hell,\u201d Bronx Assistant District Attorney Burim Namani told a courtroom packed with family members of both victims, as well as family members of all four suspects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were kidnapped, held captive, driven all over the city of New York, and finally to a remote area of the Bronx, where they were shot and killed, and their bodies set on fire,\u201d Namani said. \u201cAll because defendants\u2026were retaliating and were sending messages to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The convoluted series of events started when Huang\u2019s expensive Louis Vuitton purse was stolen from her. That same night, Brandon Atkinson, the brother of Stephen and Richard Santiago, was shot to death on Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side by members of the \u201cUp the Hill\u201d gang<\/a> that Huang was friendly with, according to police.<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom left, Richard Santiago, Jahmal Sanders and Terrence White appear in Bronx Supreme Court on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in New York City. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Though Atkinson was not the mugger, his death instantly amped up the longstanding feud\u00a0<\/a> between the \u201cUp the Hill\u201d and \u201cDown the Hill\u201d gangs, whose territories stretch from Pike St. to E. Sixth St. with the dividing line between the two crews known as \u201cThe Hill\u201d\u2014 a rise in the road on Grand St. near Madison St.<\/p>\n

Parrilla, who had been friends with Huang since middle school, drove her home that fateful night.<\/p>\n

The defendants \u201cshowed complete disregard for everything that was decent,\u201d Namani said. \u201cInstead of mourning a loved one who was killed, they set out across the city to retaliate and kill two young kids who had nothing to do with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate after the bodies of Jesse Parrilla and Nikki Huang were found inside a car on fire on Shore Road near Pelham Split Rock Golf Course in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx on Monday, May 16, 2022. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Throughout Namani\u2019s address, Huang\u2019s mother sat collapsed with her head on her knees while Parrilla\u2019s mom cried silently in the row behind her.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for all four defendants painted Stephen Santiago as the ringleader and trigger man.<\/p>\n

\"AmyAmy Chan (left), mother of Nikki Huang, is seen here with Michelle Morales, mother of Jesse Parrilla at Bronx Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.(Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the opening statement, the prosecution spoke a lot about Stephen Santiago,\u201d said Richard Santiago\u2019s lawyer, Declan Murray, imploring the jury not to condemn one bother for the sins of the other. \u201cAnything that you hear about Stephen Santiago cannot be imputed to Richard Santiago just because they have the same last name or just because they are related,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial of four men accused of kidnapping and murdering friends Jesse Parrilla and Nikki Huang \u2014 casualties…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[128,137207,137212,137211,26485,137206,787,137209,358,259,9,11,10,137208,132415,137210],"class_list":["post-372748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bronx","tag-burned-bodies","tag-cycle-of-violence","tag-down-the-hill-gang","tag-gang-violence","tag-gang-war","tag-gun-violence","tag-jesse-parrilla","tag-lower-east-side","tag-murder","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nikki-huang","tag-retaliation","tag-up-the-hill-gang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}