A leader of the notorious MS-13 crime gang that “shed a lot of blood” and turned New York communities into “war zones” was arrested in Texas over the weekend after more than three years on the run from law enforcement, authorities said Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said Cesar Humberto Lopez Larios was arrested by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations after arriving at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Sunday.
“The arrest of Lopez Larios, one of the most senior MS-13 leaders in the world, is a major win for law enforcement and another important step toward dismantling this international criminal organization,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
Lopez Larios, also known as “Grenas de Stoners” and “Oso de Stoners,” was charged with conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit transnational terrorist acts, conspiracy to commit terrorist financing and conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism.
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A 2017 photo of Cesar Humberto Lopez Larios on an FBI wanted poster. (FBI)
“While Lopez Larios is behind bars, he is no longer the powerful leader of a reign of terror or the enrichment of MS-13 and its cartel allies,” said FBI Acting Assistant Director Christy Hawkins.
Cesar Humberto Lopez Larios, photo taken in 2020
On Monday, Lopez-Larios appeared in federal court in Houston and was ordered transferred to a detention center in the Eastern District of New York, where he and 13 other MS-13 leaders face charges for directing the international crime organization’s criminal operations in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico and elsewhere over the past two decades.
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“The defendants will soon stand trial in federal court on Long Island, where, at the defendants’ command, MS-13 has shed so much blood and turned communities into battlegrounds,” Peace said.
Lopez Larios was ordered transferred to the Eastern District of New York. (Cheney Oh/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
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Lopez Larios was scheduled to be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York.
