NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Thursday announced charges against more than a dozen suspected members of the international gang MS-13, or Salvatrucha, whom it accuses of directing criminal activity, including murder in the United States, El Salvador or Mexico. , among other countries, over the past two decades.
The indictment filed by the Department of Justice for the Eastern District of New York details the charges against the 13 defendants, including conspiracy to extort money, conspiracy to offer or conceal a material support for terrorists and narco-terrorist conspiracy.
Four of the suspected Salvatrucha leaders were deported from Mexico and arrested by the FBI on Wednesday at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the department said in a statement. They face additional charges including conspiracy to smuggle people causing death and, if convicted, could face the death penalty, prosecutors said.
Four of those named are fugitives, while the others are believed to be held in El Salvador pending possible extradition, the statement added.
The 13 defendants are part of the gang’s command structure and play important leadership roles in the organization’s international operations, according to the court document.
Prosecution says they authorized and directed acts of violence, including multiple killings in the United States and Mexico, among others, as part of an effort to expand MS-13’s influence and territorial control .
In El Salvador, suspected gang leaders held military-style firearms and explosives training camps, according to the indictment.
“The defendants actively participated in public manifestations of violence to threaten and intimidate the civilian population, to obtain and control territories and to manipulate the electoral process in El Salvador,” the Justice Ministry statement said.
The Mara Salvatrucha is suspected of forging alliances with Mexican cartels and engaging in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and extortion, kidnapping and arms trafficking, according to the indictment. charge.