FBI's most-wanted MS-13 leader ‘El Veterano’ arrested in Mexico

MEXICO CITY

Mexican authorities have arrested Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, also known as "El Veterano," a high-ranking leader of the transnational MS-13 gang and one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, according to the country's Security Ministry.

Roman-Bardales, 48, was a senior figure in La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), an international criminal organization based in El Salvador. He was suspected of overseeing the gang's operations in El Salvador, Mexico, and the US.

Listed among the FBI’s top 10 most-wanted fugitives, he had a $250,000 bounty on his capture before he was arrested in the city of Veracruz on Mexico’s east coast.

A federal court in New York issued a warrant for his arrest on Sept. 22, 2022, on charges including conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, narco-terrorism conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy, and alien smuggling conspiracy.

US authorities are also seeking to prosecute him for drug distribution, extortion, and orchestrating violence against civilians and rival gangs.

Currently held in Mexico City, Roman-Bardales is awaiting extradition to the US. His arrest follows the recent capture of another MS-13 leader, Kevin Fernando Perdomo Diaz, in the State of Mexico on March 13.

MS-13 is designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US government, along with Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and several Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.