MEXICO CITY (dpa-AFX) - Mexican security officials have arrested Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, a fugitive on FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted' list.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the key senior leader of the criminal gang MS-13 was extradited to the U.S. to face charges in the country.
Roman-Bardales was wanted 'for his alleged role in ordering numerous acts of violence against civilians and rival gang members, as well as his role in drug distribution and extortion schemes in the United States and El Salvador.'
on Wednesday, the 47-year-old criminal gag leader was arraigned on a four-count indictment. Roman-Bardales, also known as Veterano de Tribus, was charged along with a dozen other high-ranking MS-13 leaders with directing the transnational criminal organization's unlawful activities in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and elsewhere over the past two decades.
The high-ranking leader of MS-13, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, had been a fugitive for nearly three years and was added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List last month. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in the mountains of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz on Monday.
The El Salvadoran citizen will face charges in a court on Long Island, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.
U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack ordered Roman-Bardales to be detained pending trial in the Eastern District of New York. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison or the possibility of the death penalty.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York has prosecuted hundreds of MS-13 leaders, members and associates for carrying out more than 80 murders in the Eastern District of New York since 2009.
Drug trafficking was an important part of MS-13's moneymaking operation, especially in Mexico, and its leaders used the gang's large membership in the United States to generate financial support for terrorist activities in El Salvador.
Roman-Bardales is the third fugitive on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list to be arrested since President Donald Trump took office.
Donald Eugene Fields II, a fugitive wanted on child sex trafficking and child rape charges, was arrested on January 25.
Arnoldo Jimenez, a fugitive wanted on first-degree murder charges, was arrested on January 30.
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