MS-13 Terror Leader Still on the Run as DOJ Steps Up Pressure with $5 Million Reward

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced new actions against La Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, an international criminal organization tied to violent crimes in at least 10 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Under the Trump administration, MS-13 was formally designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

As part of its ongoing efforts, the DOJ is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Yulan Andony Archaga Carías, the group’s highest-ranking member in Honduras.

Archaga Carías was charged in 2021 in a superseding indictment filed in the Southern District of New York, which included charges of racketeering, narcotics trafficking, and firearms violations.

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Authorities allege that Archaga Carías oversees MS-13’s cocaine trafficking operations from Honduras to the United States, directing acts of violence including murders and laundering proceeds from drug sales.

According to the indictment, Archaga Carías and his associates also provided protection for drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) by contracting hitmen and ordering murders for hire.

Additionally, MS-13 under his leadership allegedly supplied DTOs with firearms, including machine guns, in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and other locations.

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Archaga Carías is currently listed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Most Wanted Fugitives List, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations Most Wanted List.

WANTED—considered armed and extremely dangerous! Help the #FBI find one of our top ten most wanted fugitives, Yulan Adonay Archaga Carias, the alleged leader of MS-13 for all of Honduras.

If you have any information contact the FBI. https://t.co/CBSHB7e6xp #WantedWednesday pic.twitter.com/yizDFSLDGF

— FBI (@FBI) March 19, 2025

Authorities urge anyone with information to contact the FBI via email at [email protected] or through WhatsApp at +1-832-267-1688.

In a separate case, Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, a high-ranking MS-13 leader, was arraigned on a four-count indictment charging him and 12 other leaders with directing the gang’s activities across the U.S., El Salvador, Mexico, and other regions over the past 20 years.

Roman-Bardales, 47, originally from Ahuachapán, El Salvador, and Veracruz, Mexico, had been a fugitive for nearly three years before his arrest last month at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, California.

He had been added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List during the Trump administration.

The charges against Roman-Bardales and others include allegations of violent terrorist activities aimed at influencing the government of El Salvador.

These actions included attacks on Salvadoran law enforcement and military officials, the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and grenades, operating military-style training camps, and engaging in public acts of violence to control territory and manipulate elections.

The DOJ also continues to pursue MS-13’s criminal operations in the United States. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has prosecuted hundreds of MS-13 members for more than 80 murders.

In another major case, MS-13 leader Joel Vargas-Escobar was arrested in New York for his alleged involvement in a racketeering conspiracy linked to at least 11 murders in Nevada and California.

Vargas-Escobar, who had been deported to El Salvador in 2018, illegally re-entered the United States and evaded capture for nearly four years.

He now faces charges including murder-in-aid of racketeering and firearms violations.

Authorities allege that Vargas-Escobar and his co-defendants were responsible for kidnapping victims, taking them to remote locations, and carrying out brutal murders.

In Tennessee, MS-13 member Bayron Wuifredo Santos-Recarte, a Honduran national, was sentenced to 147 months in prison for kidnapping a former federal witness, retaliating against the witness, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors say Santos-Recarte and others kidnapped the witness at gunpoint from a laundromat parking lot in Nashville and assaulted him during the abduction using a firearm, hammer, and machete.

The DOJ estimates that MS-13 has more than 10,000 members operating in the United States, with thousands more across Central America and Mexico.

The organization’s members continue to face prosecution for crimes including racketeering, murder, kidnapping, narcotics distribution, extortion, and obstruction of justice.

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