A high-ranking leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, has been arrested in New York for his alleged role in a conspiracy responsible for 11 murders.
Joel Vargas-Escobar, also known as Momia, was indicted in the District of Nevada and charged with racketeering conspiracy that involved 11 murders.
Vargas-Escobar is also charged with two counts of murder in aid of racketeering and associated firearms charges. Vargas-Escobar – who previously had been deported to El Salvador and illegally re-entered the United States – had been a fugitive from justice for nearly four years.
“The American people are safer following the arrest of yet another MS-13 leader thanks to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Joint Task Force Vulcan,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This terrorist entered our country illegally and is accused of orchestrating 11 murders — under President Trump’s leadership, we will not rest until this terrorist organization is completely dismantled and its members are behind bars.”
“The arrest of yet another violent and dangerous MS-13 leader is a major win for our FBI agents, law enforcement partners, and safer American streets,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Our agents and analysts are continuously coordinating across multiple field offices and investigating with our valued partners to keep this work going — and we will not stop until that work is done.”
According to court documents, MS-13 is a national and transnational gang composed largely of individuals of Salvadoran or other Central American descent.
MS-13 has more than 10,000 members regularly conducting gang activities in at least 10 states and Washington, D.C., with thousands more conducting gang activities in Central America and Mexico.
MS-13 operates through the use of intimidation and violence, including murder, and enriching members and associates through criminal activities, including breaking into houses and stealing firearms, jewelry, cash, and other items of value, and selling narcotics.
MS-13 is organised by subsets known as “cliques,” and each clique typically has one or more leaders, commonly referred to as “shot callers.”
Vargas-Escobar and his co-defendants are allegedly part of MS-13’s command and control structure in Las Vegas and California and exercised significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations.
The indictment charges members of the “Parkview” clique of MS-13 with committing 11 murders over about a year in Nevada and California.
According to the indictment, many of the victims were allegedly kidnapped by MS-13 members and taken to remote locations in the mountains and desert, where they were tortured and killed.
Vargas-Escobar was the alleged leader of the Parkview clique of MS-13 in Las Vegas and personally ordered two of the charged murders. He was deported to El Salvador in 2018 but illegally re-entered the country.
