An indictment was unsealed in Central Islip, N.Y., last week, charging 14 leaders in MS-13 who are known as the Ranfla Nacional, which operated as the organization’s board of directors, directing MS-13’s criminal activity for almost two decades.
The indictment charges the defendants 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 in connection with the defendants’ leadership of the transnational criminal organization over the past two decades.
Defendant Borromeo Enrique Henriquez, aka “Diablito de Hollywood,” is widely recognized as the most powerful member of the Ranfla Nacional. Henriquez and 10 other defendants are in custody in El Salvador. The United States will explore options for their extradition to the United States with the Government of El Salvador.
Three of the indicted defendants, Fredy Ivan Jandres-Parada, aka “Lucky de Park View” and “Lacky de Park View,” Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, aka “El Grenas de Stoners” and “Oso de Stoners,” and Hugo Armando Quinteros-Mineros, aka “Flaco de Francis,” remain at large and should be considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts are encouraged to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) toll-free MS-13 tip line, 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713), or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at (866) 347-2423 or https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form. The FBI and HSI have offered $20,000 in rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of each of the three fugitives.
“The indictment announced today is the highest-reaching and most sweeping indictment targeting MS-13 and its command and control structure in U.S. history,” Acting US Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said. “When Attorney General Barr announced the creation of JTFV in August 2019, he envisioned a whole-of-government approach that would combine proven prosecution tools from the past with innovative strategies designed specifically to eliminate MS-13 leadership’s ability to operate the gang and direct its terrorist activity. This indictment reflects an important step toward achieving that goal. By working side-by-side with our U.S. law enforcement partners and with our partners in El Salvador, we have charged MS-13’s highest-ranking leaders with operating a transnational criminal organization that utilizes terror to impose their will on neighborhoods, businesses, and innocent civilians across the United States and Central America.”
As alleged in the indictment, starting in 2002, the Ranfla Nacional and other MS-13 leaders began establishing a highly organized, hierarchical command and control structure as a means to make decisions and have their orders carried out. They directed acts of violence and murder in El Salvador, the United States, and elsewhere. They also established military-style training camps for its members and obtained military weapons such as rifles, handguns, grenades, improvised explosive devices (IED), and rocket launchers.
“MS-13 is responsible for a wave of death and violence that has terrorized communities, leaving neighborhoods on Long Island and throughout the Eastern District of New York awash in bloodshed,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Seth DuCharme said. “Even when incarcerated, the Ranfla Nacional continued to direct MS-13’s global operations, recruit new members, including children, into MS-13, and orchestrate murder and mayhem around the world. Today’s ground-breaking indictment seeks to demolish MS-13 by targeting its command and control structure and holding MS-13’s Board of Directors accountable for their terroristic actions.”