CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - New York, Eastern), published as received.
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, also known as “Veterano de Tribus,” a high-ranking leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as “MS-13,” was arraigned on a four-count indictment charging him, 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. Roman-Bardales, who had been a fugitive for nearly three years and was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List last month, was arrested by the FBI on March 18, 2025 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, California. Roman-Bardales had been located and arrested by Mexican authorities in Veracruz on March 17, 2025, and after it was determined that he was an El Salvadoran citizen with no valid status in Mexico, he was expelled from Mexico. Roman-Bardales is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, narco-terrorism conspiracy, and alien smuggling conspiracy. Today’s proceeding was held before United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack. Roman-Bardales was ordered detained pending trial in the Eastern District of New York.
Pamela Bondi, United States Attorney General, John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Leslie Backschies, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, FBI, New York Field Office, announced the arraignment.
“MS-13 is a terrorist organization and this case reflects the Department of Justice’s ironclad commitment to putting terrorists behind bars,” stated Attorney General Bondi. “Members of MS-13 and similar groups should live in fear knowing that we will hunt them down, prosecute them, and deliver swift American justice for their heinous crimes.”
“The prosecution in the Eastern District of New York of this international fugitive, who is one of the most senior leaders of the MS-13 in the world, is another momentous step in the dismantling of this evil criminal enterprise, whose bloodshed and reign of terror traverses all boundaries,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “Thanks to the relentless and brave work of United States law enforcement, he will soon face reckoning in a courtroom on Long Island where his transnational criminal organization has impacted so many communities.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to the Suffolk County Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, San Diego (HSI), the FBI’s San Diego Field Office and the Government of Mexico for their assistance.
“FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Roman-Bardales has been extradited to the United States to be held accountable for the extreme and depraved violence and terror his leadership of MS-13 allegedly brought to the streets of the United States and across North America,” stated FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Backschies. “The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners are committed to eradicating MS-13 and all violent transnational criminal organizations wherever they operate as we protect our nation.”
As set forth in court filings, Roman-Bardales and his co-defendants are part of MS-13’s command and control structure, consisting of the Ranfla Nacional, Ranfla en Las Calles, and Ranfla en Los Penales. They exercise significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations in El Salvador, Mexico, the United States, and throughout the world. Roman-Bardales was himself a founding member of the Ranfla en las Calles and oversaw the “Western Zone” of MS-13 in El Salvador. In the related case of United States v. Henriquez, et al., a grand jury in the Eastern District of New York previously indicted 14 members of the Ranfla Nacional, who functioned as MS-13’s “Board of Directors.” Formal extradition requests have been submitted by the United States and remain pending for 11 of those defendants who either are or were in custody in El Salvador.
As further alleged, the defendants have engaged in a litany of violent terrorist activities aimed at influencing the policies of the government of El Salvador (GOES) and at obtaining benefits and concessions from GOES; targeting GOES law enforcement and military officials; employing terrorist tactics such as the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and grenades; operating military-style training camps for firearms and explosives; using public displays of violence to intimidate civilian populations; using violence to obtain and control territory; and manipulating the electoral process in El Salvador.
Further, these defendants authorized and directed violence in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere as part of a concerted effort to expand MS-13’s influence and territorial control. As the leaders of the MS-13 transnational criminal organization, these defendants were an integral part of the leadership chain responsible for supervising MS-13 cliques in the United States that engaged in extreme violence, including countless murders, attempted murders, assaults, and related offenses. For example, 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 between 2009 and the present.
Several of these defendants, including Roman-Bardales, coordinated MS-13’s expansion into Mexico (the Mexico Program), at the direction of the Ranfla Nacional, which was a coordinated effort to maintain MS-13’s continuity of operations in response to law enforcement pressure previously exerted by the United States and GOES. Additionally, Roman-Bardales and the Mexico Program forged alliances with Mexican cartels, and engaged in narcotics trafficking, immigrant smuggling, extortion, kidnappings, and weapons trafficking. As alleged in the indictment, the MS-13’s Mexico Program murdered some migrants bound for the United States, including suspected members of the rival 18th Street gang and MS-13 members attempting to flee MS-13 in El Salvador without permission. Drug trafficking was an important part of MS-13’s moneymaking operation, especially in Mexico, and the defendants used MS-13’s large membership in the United States to generate financial support for MS-13’s terrorist activities in El Salvador.
This case was brought by Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), which was created to combat MS-13 and comprised of U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country, including the Eastern District of New York; the Eastern District of Texas; the Southern District of New York; the District of Massachusetts; the District of New Jersey; the Northern District of Ohio; the District of Utah; the Southern District of Florida; the Eastern District of Virginia; the Southern District of California; the District of Nevada; the District of Alaska; and the District of Columbia, as well as the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the Criminal Division. Additionally, the FBI; HSI; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the United States Marshals Service; the U.S. Bureau of Prisons; and the United States Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General have been essential law enforcement partners and spearheaded JTFV’s investigations.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America and an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of the charges, Roman-Bardales faces up to life in prison or the possibility of the death penalty.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division and as part of the work of the Office’s Transnational Criminal Organizations Strike Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Justina L. Geraci, Paul G. Scotti, and Megan E. Farrell are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Kerryanne Ucci and Automated Litigation Specialist Michael Compitello.
The Defendant:
FRANCISCO JAVIER ROMAN-BARDALES (also known as “Veterano de Tribus”)
Age: 47
Ahuachapán, El Salvador and Veracruz, Mexico
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-429 (JMA)
