NEVADA
A high-ranking MS-13 leader, Joel Vargas-Escobar, also known as “Momia,” was arrested last night in New York after nearly four years on the run, officials stated.
Indicted in Nevada, he faces racketeering conspiracy charges tied to 11 murders, along with two counts of murder in aid of racketeering and firearms offenses.
Vargas-Escobar had previously been deported to El Salvador but illegally re-entered the U.S.
Vargas-Escobar is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
MS-13 is a violent gang with over 10,000 members across at least 10 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and thousands more in Central America and Mexico. Known for murder, drug trafficking, and robbery, the gang is organized into “cliques” led by “shot callers.”
Joel Vargas-Escobar, allegedly the leader of the Parkview clique in Las Vegas, played a key role in MS-13’s operations in Nevada and California. He and his co-defendants are accused of overseeing 11 murders, with victims often kidnapped, tortured, and killed in remote areas. Deported to El Salvador in 2018, Vargas-Escobar illegally returned to the U.S. and ordered at least two of the murders.
If convicted, Vargas-Escobar faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Officials stated that Trial Attorneys Christopher Taylor and Justin Bish from the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melanee Smith and Steven Rose from the District of Nevada are prosecuting the case.