Court documents reveal arrest of MS-13 senior leader after four years as a fugitive.

A senior leader of MS-13, one of the largest transnational criminal organizations, has been captured in Southern California after four years on the run. Freddy Ivan Jandres-Parada has been accused of being part of the board of directors of MS-13, known as the Ranfla Nacional. He was listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and a reward was offered for his capture.

On March 7th, Jandres-Parada was arrested in San Diego by the FBI, he subsequently waived his right to bail. Federal prosecutors charged him and other alleged gang members with material support of terrorism and narco-terrorism, alleging the group ran “military-style training camps” and “directed acts of violence and murder in El Salvador, the United States, and elsewhere.”

Among other charges, Jandres-Parada is accused of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and narco-terrorism conspiracy. As a member of the Ranfla Nacional, it’s alleged he controlled the activities of MS-13, including the approval of murders, assaults, kidnappings, drug trafficking, and other criminal activities.

Presently, Jandres-Parada is being held at the federal jail in San Diego and will be transferred to New York–where he was charged–to await trial. The MS-13 gang was established in the 1980s by Central American immigrants in Southern California, evolving to become involved in brutal criminal activities including severing the fingers of rivals, murder, rape, and assault.

The gang grew prolifically, dispersing into local neighborhood groups or “cliques,” and expanding into Central American countries where membership rose into the tens of thousands. Many of these members returned to the United States, often illegally, and rejoined MS-13 cliques in several states. Notably, in 2017, a dozen alleged MS-13 members were charged in New York with seven murders, including the deaths of three high school students.