MS-13 High-Ranking Leader Transferred To LI From Texas: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY - A high-ranking leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, popularly known as MS-13, is being transferred in federal custody from Texas to the Eastern District of New York, federal officials announced Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, also known as Grenas de Stoners and Oso de Stoners, was ordered to be transferred in custody from Houston to the Eastern District of New York where he, together with 13 other high-ranking MS-13 leaders, are charged with directing the transnational criminal organization’s criminal activities in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and elsewhere over the past two decades, officials said.

Lopez-Larios, who had been a fugitive for over three years, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations on June 9, when he arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, officials said.

Lopez-Larios is charged with conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to finance terrorism and narco-terrorism conspiracy, officials said. He will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date, according to federal officials.

According to the indictment and court filings, Lopez-Larios and his co-defendants are part of MS-13’s command and control structure, consisting of the Ranfla Nacional, Ranfla en Las Calles, and Ranfla en Los Penales. They play significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations in El Salvador, Mexico, the U.S. and around the world, officials said.

“The arrest of Lopez-Larios, who is one of the most senior leaders of MS-13 in the world, is a significant achievement for law enforcement and another crucial step in the dismantling of this international criminal enterprise,” said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “The defendant will soon face a reckoning in a federal courtroom on Long Island where, acting on his orders, MS-13 has spilled so much blood and turned communities into war zones.”

Prosecutors alleged they played significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations throughout the world. In total, 27 of the highest-ranking leaders of MS-13 have been charged in the Eastern District of New York in the indictment and the related indictment of United States v. Arevalo-Chavez, et al, officials said.

Prosecutors alleged that in 2002, Lopez-Larios, his co-defendants and other MS-13 leaders began establishing a highly organized, hierarchical command and control structure as a means to effectuate their decisions and enforce their orders, even while in prison. They directed acts of violence and murder in El Salvador, the U.S. and elsewhere, established military-style training camps for MS-13 members and obtained military weapons such as rifles, handguns, grenades, improvised explosive devices and rocket launchers.

Then in 2012, Lopez-Larios and other members of the Ranfla Nacional negotiated with officials from the government of El Salvador to obtain benefits and concessions from the government, the US attorney said. In order to extort those benefits and concessions, MS-13 engaged in public displays of violence to threaten and intimidate civilian populations, target GOES law enforcement and military officials, and manipulate the electoral process in El Salvador, officials said.

The leaders directed the expansion of MS-13 activities activities around the world, including the U.S. and Mexico, where Lopez-Larios and other high-ranking leaders were sent to organize operations and obtain narcotics and firearms from Mexican drug cartels such as the Zetas, Gulf Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación and Sinaloa Cartel, and engage in human trafficking and smuggling, according to officials.

The Ranfla Nacional also directed MS-13’s large membership in the U.S. to traffic drugs and raise money through extortion to support MS-13’s terrorist activities in El Salvador and other places Lopez-Larios, who has been an MS-13 leader for approximately two decades, was an original member of MS-13's Twelve Apostles of the Devil and later became a member of the Ranfla Nacional, Peace said.

Within the Eastern District of New York, MS-13 has committed numerous acts of violence — including murders, attempted murders, assaults, kidnappings, drug trafficking, extortion of individuals and businesses, obstructed justice and sent dues and the proceeds of criminal activity by wire transfer to MS-13 leaders in El Salvador, federal officials said.

Two related defendants from the Arevalo-Chavez indictment, Jorge Alexander De La Cruz, also known as Cruger de Peatonales, and Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, also known as Veterano de Tribus, remain at large, according to officials.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Durham, Paul G. Scotti, Justina L. Geraci and Megan E. Farrell of the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Automated Litigation Support Specialist Michael Compitello.

Members of the public with information concerning their whereabouts are strongly encouraged to contact the FBI’s toll-free MS-13 tip line, 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713), or HSI’s tip line at 866-347-2423 or online. Together, FBI and HSI have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the fugitives.