Benjamin Weiser :
For years, the violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13 has terrorized parts of New York City and Long Island with brutal killings, and it has been linked by federal prosecutors to more than 55 murders there in the last decade.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn took aim at the leadership of the transnational gang, announcing terrorism charges against what they called the criminal organization’s “board of directors” – 14 of its highest-ranking leaders, most of them jailed in El Salvador.
Though the indictment unsealed on Thursday did not give details of specific crimes ordered by the defendants, it said they had established multiple branches on Long Island, in Queens and in Brooklyn, which committed murders, attempted murders, assaults and kidnappings.
“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,” said Seth D. DuCharme, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District.
The Justice Department has said that MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, has thousands of members across the country, most of them immigrants from Central America. It is the largest and most violent street gang on Long Island.
In May, Eastern District prosecutors said they had charged 10 men with being part of an MS-13 crew that had carried out three murders in Queens: on a subway platform, on a sidewalk and near a park.
One of the victims, Andy Peralta, 17, was beaten and strangled after gang members saw his tattoo and mistook him for a member of the rival Latin Kings gang, prosecutors said.
The indictment unsealed in Federal District Court in Central Islip on Thursday charged that the alleged MS-13 leaders, 11 of whom are jailed in El Salvador and three of whom are fugitives, were part of the organization’s governing board, the Ranfla Nacional, and that they issued orders from prison and directed the gang’s acts of violence over almost 20 years.
The acting attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen, said the indictment was “the highest-reaching and most sweeping indictment targeting MS-13 and its command and control structure in U.S. history.”
The indictment also was the broadest yet to charge MS-13 leaders with terrorism-related offenses. Among the charges are narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracies to finance terrorism and to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
The indictment also was the broadest yet to charge MS-13 leaders with terrorism-related offenses. Among the charges are narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracies to finance terrorism and to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
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Last year, a man charged in Virginia became the first accused MS-13 leader to face terrorism charges in the United States, the Justice Department said at the time.
The New York indictment comes in the waning days of the administration of President Trump, who tried repeatedly to make MS-13 the face of what he portrayed as the dangers of immigration.
In May 2018, Mr. Trump traveled to Bethpage, Long Island, for a stage-managed event in which he pointed to “crippling loopholes in our laws” that he said Democrats in Congress had refused to close and that he claimed had allowed MS-13 gang members to “infiltrate our communities.”
Among the defendants charged in the indictment unsealed on Thursday was Borromeo Enrique Henriquez, who is also known as Diablito de Hollywood. Prosecutors said he is widely recognized as the most powerful member of MS-13’s ruling council, the Ranfla Nacional.
According to the indictment, Ranfla Nacional exercised control over MS-13 activities in the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere in the United States.
The council oversaw the recruitment of new gang members and the promotion of existing members, and signed off on murders, including of members suspected of cooperating with law enforcement, the indictment charged.
The indictment said MS-13 managed its activities through a formal hierarchy, which at the lowest level includes groups known as “cliques,” which themselves were organized into “programs.”
By 2015, MS-13 had tens of thousands of members in more than 200 cliques and dozens of programs in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere, the indictment said.
The group’s members also trafficked drugs, extorted individuals and businesses and wired the proceeds from their crimes back to MS-13 members in El Salvador, the indictment charged. The funds were used to fight the government there.
“The Ranfla Nacional directed the collection of money from every clique,” the indictment said, including in New York, “to be used to fund the purchase of weapons, including machine guns, handguns, grenades, IEDs and body armor to be used to attack police, military and government officials in El Salvador, in retaliation for taking actions against MS-13.”
The indictment charged that the Ranfla Nacional used cellphones smuggled into jails and prisons, and encrypted communications systems, to discuss gang-related business and to direct the gang’s activities.
The government said the United States would explore options for the men’s extradition from El Salvador.
The charges were announced by Mr. Rosen, Mr. DuCharme, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, and other federal law enforcement officials.
For years, the violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13 has terrorized parts of New York City and Long Island with brutal killings, and it has been linked by federal prosecutors to more than 55 murders there in the last decade.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn took aim at the leadership of the transnational gang, announcing terrorism charges against what they called the criminal organization’s “board of directors” – 14 of its highest-ranking leaders, most of them jailed in El Salvador.
Though the indictment unsealed on Thursday did not give details of specific crimes ordered by the defendants, it said they had established multiple branches on Long Island, in Queens and in Brooklyn, which committed murders, attempted murders, assaults and kidnappings.
“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,” said Seth D. DuCharme, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District.
The Justice Department has said that MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, has thousands of members across the country, most of them immigrants from Central America. It is the largest and most violent street gang on Long Island.
In May, Eastern District prosecutors said they had charged 10 men with being part of an MS-13 crew that had carried out three murders in Queens: on a subway platform, on a sidewalk and near a park.
One of the victims, Andy Peralta, 17, was beaten and strangled after gang members saw his tattoo and mistook him for a member of the rival Latin Kings gang, prosecutors said.
The indictment unsealed in Federal District Court in Central Islip on Thursday charged that the alleged MS-13 leaders, 11 of whom are jailed in El Salvador and three of whom are fugitives, were part of the organization’s governing board, the Ranfla Nacional, and that they issued orders from prison and directed the gang’s acts of violence over almost 20 years.
The acting attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen, said the indictment was “the highest-reaching and most sweeping indictment targeting MS-13 and its command and control structure in U.S. history.”
The indictment also was the broadest yet to charge MS-13 leaders with terrorism-related offenses. Among the charges are narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracies to finance terrorism and to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
The indictment also was the broadest yet to charge MS-13 leaders with terrorism-related offenses. Among the charges are narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracies to finance terrorism and to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
New York Today: Compelling daily stories, transit news and a glimpse at the lighter side of life in the city.
Last year, a man charged in Virginia became the first accused MS-13 leader to face terrorism charges in the United States, the Justice Department said at the time.
The New York indictment comes in the waning days of the administration of President Trump, who tried repeatedly to make MS-13 the face of what he portrayed as the dangers of immigration.
In May 2018, Mr. Trump traveled to Bethpage, Long Island, for a stage-managed event in which he pointed to “crippling loopholes in our laws” that he said Democrats in Congress had refused to close and that he claimed had allowed MS-13 gang members to “infiltrate our communities.”
Among the defendants charged in the indictment unsealed on Thursday was Borromeo Enrique Henriquez, who is also known as Diablito de Hollywood. Prosecutors said he is widely recognized as the most powerful member of MS-13’s ruling council, the Ranfla Nacional.
According to the indictment, Ranfla Nacional exercised control over MS-13 activities in the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere in the United States.
The council oversaw the recruitment of new gang members and the promotion of existing members, and signed off on murders, including of members suspected of cooperating with law enforcement, the indictment charged.
The indictment said MS-13 managed its activities through a formal hierarchy, which at the lowest level includes groups known as “cliques,” which themselves were organized into “programs.”
By 2015, MS-13 had tens of thousands of members in more than 200 cliques and dozens of programs in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere, the indictment said.
The group’s members also trafficked drugs, extorted individuals and businesses and wired the proceeds from their crimes back to MS-13 members in El Salvador, the indictment charged. The funds were used to fight the government there.
“The Ranfla Nacional directed the collection of money from every clique,” the indictment said, including in New York, “to be used to fund the purchase of weapons, including machine guns, handguns, grenades, IEDs and body armor to be used to attack police, military and government officials in El Salvador, in retaliation for taking actions against MS-13.”
The indictment charged that the Ranfla Nacional used cellphones smuggled into jails and prisons, and encrypted communications systems, to discuss gang-related business and to direct the gang’s activities.
The government said the United States would explore options for the men’s extradition from El Salvador.
The charges were announced by Mr. Rosen, Mr. DuCharme, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, and other federal law enforcement officials.
