Las Vegas, NV (Dept. of Justice) - A high-ranking leader of the violent gang known as MS-13 was arrested in New York for his alleged role in a conspiracy responsible for 11 murders.
Joel Vargas-Escobar, also known as Momia, was indicted by the District of Nevada and charged with racketeering conspiracy that involved 11 murders.
Vargas-Escobar is also charged with two counts of murder-in-aid of racketeering and associated firearms charges. Vargas-Escobar – who previously had been deported to El Salvador and illegally reentered the United States – had been a fugitive for nearly four years.
Vargas-Escobar and his co-defendants are allegedly part of MS-13’s command and control structure in Las Vegas and California and exercised significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations. The indictment charges members of the “Parkview” clique of MS-13 with committing 11 murders over about a year in Nevada and California. According to the indictment, many of the victims were allegedly kidnapped by MS-13 members and taken to remote locations in the mountains and desert where they were tortured and killed.
Vargas-Escobar was the alleged leader of the Parkview clique of MS-13 in Las Vegas and personally ordered two of the charged murders. He was deported to El Salvador in 2018 but illegally reentered the country.
Vargas-Escobar was ordered detained and will be transferred to the District of Nevada for trial. If convicted, Vargas-Escobar faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.