Alleged MS-13 gang leader arrested in Virginia, US government announces

27 March 2025, 15:16 | Updated: 27 March 2025, 17:26

The alleged US East Coast leader of the MS-13 gang has been arrested in Virginia, the US attorney general has announced.

The 24-year-old suspect from El Salvador was identified as one of the top three leaders in the United States of the street gang, which has a reputation for extreme violence, Pam Bondi said during a news conference after his arrest.

She told reporters: "The bad guy is in jail."

"America is safer today because one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13... is off the streets.

"We want to make our schools safer. We want to make your neighbourhoods safer. This guy was living in a neighbourhood right around you, no longer."

The Justice Department has not yet released the suspect's name or detailed the charges against him.

The MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is an international criminal gang that was set up in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It was formed by immigrants who had fled El Salvador's civil war to protect Salvadoran immigrants from rival gangs.

The group was declared a terrorist organisation by the Trump administration last month.

In a Truth Social post, President Trump said: "Just captured a major leader of MS13". He did not offer additional details.

Mr Trump has previously blamed the gang's growth on lax immigration policies in the US.

Ms Bondi told reporters that the suspect was living illegally in the US, around 35 miles (56km) from Washington.

She said the suspect was recruited by the MS-13 at a young age, and led the gang's operation on the East Coast.

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In 2016, two high school girls, Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, were killed on New York's Long Island - bringing national attention to the gang.

The teenage friends were attacked with a machete and baseball bat by young men and teenagers who had stalked them from a car.

More killing followed in the subsequent months.

Over a dozen gang members have been indicted on terrorism charges - in relation to organised crime in the US, Mexico, and El Salvador - over the past two decades.