Federal and local law enforcement have arrested 11 alleged members of a Bronx street gang in connection with the fatal carjacking of Ariela Mejia-Polanco, the social media influencer and 6ix9ine video model who was shot and killed nearly a year ago as she drove home from work.
A 15-count federal indictment unsealed July 20 targets members of Bad Boys 7 (BB7), a subset of the Trinitarios gang operating primarily in the Bronx and parts of northern New Jersey.
The defendants, reportedly mostly in their 20s and 30s, face charges including murder, racketeering conspiracy, armed robbery, carjacking, narcotics trafficking, and wire fraud.
Mejia-Polanco, 33, known online as Ariela La Langosta, was found shot multiple times inside her black Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV on the Cross County Parkway in Mount Vernon, New York, on Aug. 17, 2025.
Prosecutors say Mejia-Polanco left her job at Ikon Night Club in Inwood around 4:30 a.m. that morning. Six BB7 members allegedly pursued her vehicle in a high-speed chase from Manhattan into Westchester, shooting and killing her in an attempted carjacking.
Officials say Mejia-Polanco was not deliberately targeted but was likely singled out because of her luxury SUV rather than her identity, according to ABC7 NY. Investigators were still weighing whether the gang had monitored her social media presence.
Westchester County Police Capt. James Greer offered a pointed caution in the wake of that inquiry: "The more information that's out there, the more people can use that against you."
The six defendants charged specifically in her killing are Justin Martha, Michael Mercedes Marte, Jose Peralta Gomez, Manuel Abad Rivas, Wilfren Carbuccia, and Jeilin Portes Guaba. All six face charges of attempted carjacking resulting in death and could face the death penalty if convicted on the most serious counts.
Westchester County DA Susan Cacace described Mejia-Polanco as "an innocent young woman unknown to any of these gang members who had the misfortune of crossing their paths by pure happenstance.”
"Either the highways of this county belong to the criminal gangs, or they belong to the public,” she said. “We can never allow our streets to be overtaken by organized criminal activity."
The indictment reaches beyond the Mejia-Polanco case. Prosecutors allege BB7 carried out a string of violent crimes, including at least five murders, between September 2023 and September 2025, spanning the Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester, Brooklyn, and counties in New Jersey.
All 11 defendants were awaiting arraignment as of July 20.
