High-Ranking Member Of MS-13 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 said.

Elmer Canales-Rivera and 13 other high-ranking MS-13 leaders were indicted in December 2020 on terrorism offenses relating to their direction of the transnational criminal organization’s criminal activities in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and elsewhere over the past two decades, officials added.

"As alleged, Canales-Rivera along with his co-defendants acted as a board of directors, directing acts of violence, intimidation, and material support of terrorists in El Salvador and throughout the United States, including in the Eastern District of New York where he will appear next in a federal courtroom in Central Islip to answer these charges," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in an announcement.

Peace alleged that Canales-Rivera, aka "Crook de Hollywood", had a significant role as a member of the MS-13 gang’s leadership body known as the ‘Twelve Apostles of the Devil" and later renamed Ranfla Nacional.

As set forth in the indictment, which was returned on Dec. 16, 2020 and unsealed on Jan. 14, 2021, and related court filings, Canales-Rivera 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.

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, Canales-Rivera, 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 United States, and elsewhere, established military-style training camps for its members and obtained military weapons such as rifles, handguns, grenades, improvised explosive devices and rocket launchers.

The leaders directed the expansion of MS-13 activities around the world and also directed MS-13’s large membership in the United States to engage in criminal activities, such as drug trafficking and extortion, to raise money to support MS-13’s terrorist activities in El Salvador and elsewhere, prosecutors alleged, and to commit acts of violence, including murders, to further its goals, federal officials said.

Beginning a decade ago, Canales-Rivera and others negotiated with officials from the government of El Salvador, officials added. In order to extract benefits and concessions, MS-13 engaged in public displays of violence to threaten and intimidate civilian populations, targeted law enforcement and military officials, and manipulated the electoral process in El Salvador, officials said, adding that Canales-Rivera played one of the most prominent roles in MS-13’s negotiations and agreements with the government.

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.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York’s Long Island Criminal Division said they have prosecuted hundreds of MS-13 leaders, members, and associates for carrying out more than 65 murders in the Eastern District of New York between 2009 and the present.

When the indictment was unsealed in January 2021, Canales-Rivera was in custody in El Salvador serving a prison sentence, and the United States lodged an INTERPOL Red Notice and submitted an extradition request, officials said. However, Canales-Rivera was released from custody and then unlawfully entered Guatemala; he remained a fugitive until Nov. 7, when he was apprehended by Mexican authorities, prosecutors said. The United States asked that 11 other co-defendents be extradited; the government of El Salvador has not done so, prosecutors said.

Two of his co-defendants, Fredy Ivan Jandres-Parada, aka Lucky de Park View and Lacky de Park View, and Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, aka El Grenas de Stoners and Oso de Stoners, and three related defendants from the Arevalo-Chavez indictment, Jorge Alexander De La Cruz, aka Cruger de Peatonales; Juan Antonio Martinez-Abrego, aka Mary Jane de Hollywood, and Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, aka Veterano de Tribus, remain at large, prosecutors said.

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.

Canales-Rivera has been 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, federal officials said. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, they added.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Durham, Paul G. Scotti, Justina L. Geraci, and Megan E. Farrell for the Eastern District of New York’s Long Island Criminal Division are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Donnelly for the District of New Jersey, Matthew Shepherd for the Northern District of Ohio, and Stewart Young for the District of Utah from Joint Task Force Vulcan, the national task force created to combat MS-13.

SEE ALSO:

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• Long Island MS-13 Members Accused Of 6 Killings
• 8 MS-13 Gang Members Indicted On Murder And Other Charges