A reputed “international leader” of the migrant gang MS-13 ordered murders and oversaw gun and drug trafficking schemes in the US out of a jail cell in El Salvador, federal prosecutors said.
Moises Humberto Rivera-Luna, 55, is facing racketeering charges after getting extradited to the US from Guatemala and going in front of a judge in Washington, DC this week — the culmination of an exhaustive 12-year investigation by federal immigration and law enforcement authorities.
“The decade-long pursuit of this alleged violent gang member illustrates our office’s resolve to remain focused and bring to justice those who violate the law no matter where they are, no matter how long it takes,” Edward Martin, US Attorney for Washington, DC, said in a statement.
Rivera-Luna, also known as Viejo Santos, or Old Saint, was one of seven reputed MS-13 bosses indicted in 2013 for allegedly ordering murders, kidnappings and assaults from the South American prison, and ordering hits on turncoat gang members, according to a superseding federal indictment in the case.
The gang leader is accused of giving the green light for the murders of Felipe Enriquez, 25, whose body was found in Maryland in 2010, and 27-year-old Louis Alberto Membreno-Zelaya, who was brutally stabbed to death in 2008 and dumped in the nation’s capital, the feds said.
Rivera-Luna and MS-13 cohort Marvin Geovanny Monterrosa-Larios, who was also locked up in El Salvador, used cell phones to run gang “cliques” in the DC area, the indictment said.
Once released from prison, Rivera-Luna fled to Guatemala, where he was taken into custody pending extradition proceedings — which led to his court appearance this week.
He is now being held without bail while awaiting trial.
MS-13 has been behind widespread violence and trafficking in the US for years, including on Long Island and in the New York metropolitan area.
Earlier this month the state department designated the gang, along with the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, as a foreign terrorists organizations and declared war on both.
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