San Diego, CA: Authorities reported that a senior commander of the MS-13 street gang, who was wanted by the FBI on narco-terrorism charges, was secretly apprehended earlier this month at the California-Mexico border.

The Times has learned from reliable sources that on March 7, federal agents apprehended 48-year-old Freddy Ivan Jandres-Parada, who goes by the name Lucky De Park View, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego County. No information on the arrest was made public by federal authorities.

Court Watch was the first to report Jandres-Parada’s arrest, which occurred over three years after his indictment on terrorism charges in December 2020. The charges stem from his alleged role as the leader of MS-13’s criminal operations in the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico over the course of nearly twenty years.

According to officials, he is a part of the leadership council of MS-13, which was formerly called the Twelve Apostles of the Devil but is now called Ranfla Nacional. This council manages thousands of MS-13 members around the world.

The Eastern District of New York indicted him and thirteen other MS-13 commanders for their alleged involvement in scores of murders, numerous other violent crimes, threats, and financial backing of terrorists in the US and El Salvador, as stated in federal court filings.

MS-13 Gang Member arrested in New York City for reentry after deportation as he is convicted of murder, racketeering and other felony charges

New members were recruited and promoted to higher positions by the Ranfla Nacional. In addition, the indictment states that it gives “‘green lights’ to execute police officers, rivals, disloyal gang members or anyone it considers a snitch.”.

The MS-13 often uses machetes in its murders as a kind of intimidation against their adversaries and anyone they perceive as betraying their loyalty.

Jandres-Parada’s ascent to power is reminiscent of La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). He joined MS-13 in the 1980s, when the gang was still based in the Westlake neighborhood close to downtown Los Angeles, after being born in Jiquilisco, El Salvador. According to court records, he spent three years in state jail after being found guilty of drug trafficking in L.A. County in 1994.

Westlake, Pico-Union, Koreatown, and Hollywood are some of the historically immigrant districts in Los Angeles where over a dozen MS-13 cliques are based, according to officials.

Jandres-Parada was re-arrested for gun possession shortly after his release and given a three-year prison term, according to police. He was sent to El Salvador, along with many others in MS-13, where the gang became a powerful political force.

MS-13 Gang Member got more than 2 Decades of Prison Term for killing a 14-year-old in Virginia

The number of MS-13 gang members in Central America increased after their repatriation, and the organization eventually took over local prisons. From Virginia to Tennessee and Nevada, some of the immigrants established new cliques, as shown in the court records. Prosecutors stated that the gang’s infrastructure is supported by funds obtained through drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnappings.

Jandres-Parada was deported to El Salvador once again after his return to the United States, during which he was once again captured and imprisoned for unlawful entrance. According to the authorities, he maintained control of MS-13’s vast international activities while he was there.

The Ranfla Nacional is the highest authority in the gang, and it is via the chain of command that lower-level cliques—called “zonas”—work. The indictment states that the gang has spread into Mexico, where it collaborates with several drug cartels, and that there are over 200 cliques in the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

However, Jandres-Parada is not the sole leader of MS-13 to be apprehended in the past few months. Elmer Canales-Rivera, alias Crook de Hollywood, was apprehended at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport in November 2023.

After Elmer Canales-Rivera’s arrest, U.S. Atty. Gen. Merrick B. Garland released a statement stating that Canales-Rivera, a member of MS-13’s ‘Twelve Apostles of the Devil,’ is responsible for the gang’s decades-long efforts to instill fear in communities, attack law enforcement, and cause violence both domestically and internationally.

Allegedly, one penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, houses the vast majority of MS-13 inmates being held by the federal government.