A high-ranking member of the notorious MS-13 gang was apprehended in Long Island for his suspected involvement in close to a dozen homicides, the Justice Department revealed on Wednesday.

Joel “Momia” Vargas-Escobar was the alleged leader of the “Parkview clique” of MS-13 operating out of the Las Vegas area, federal prosecutors said. 

The Department of Justice seal is seen during a news conference at the DOJ office in Washington, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Vargas-Escobar was deported to El Salvador in 2018 but illegally reentered the country and had been on the run for nearly four years, the DOJ said. 

An indictment from the District of Nevada accuses Vargas-Escobar and other supposed associates of the “Parkview clique” of executing 11 murders over approximately a year in Nevada and California. The indictment claims MS-13 members abducted victims and transported them to isolated locations in the mountains and desert where they were tortured and killed.

Prosecutors say Vargas-Escobar personally ordered at least two of the charged murders. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks before President Donald Trump at the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (POOL)

“The American populace is more secure following the apprehension of another MS-13 leader, credited to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Joint Task Force Vulcan,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated. “This terrorist unlawfully entered our nation and stands accused of organizing 11 murders — under President Trump’s guidance, we will not cease until this terrorist group is entirely dismantled and its members are incarcerated.”