A senior leader of the notorious MS-13 street gang, Freddy Ivan Jandres-Parada, also known as Lucky De Park View, was quietly apprehended earlier this month at the California-Mexico border on narco-terrorism charges. The arrest took place on March 7 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego County, according to sources familiar with the matter. Federal officials have not provided further details regarding the arrest.
Jandres-Parada’s capture comes more than three years after his indictment in December 2020 on terrorism offenses related to his role in directing MS-13’s criminal activities in the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico for nearly two decades. He is a member of MS-13’s leadership council, initially known as the Twelve Apostles of the Devil and later renamed Ranfla Nacional, which exercises control over thousands of MS-13 members worldwide.
Alongside 13 other MS-13 leaders, Jandres-Parada was indicted in the Eastern District of New York for their involvement in numerous killings, acts of violence, intimidation, and material support of terrorists in El Salvador and throughout the United States. The indictment reveals that the Ranfla Nacional oversees the recruitment process and advancement within the gang, as well as authorizes the execution of police officers, rivals, disloyal gang members, and informants.
MS-13 is notorious for its brutal killings, often carried out using machetes, to send intimidating messages to enemies and those deemed disloyal. Jandres-Parada’s rise in leadership mirrors the growth of MS-13, which originated as a street gang in the Westlake area of downtown Los Angeles in the 1980s. He has a criminal history, including a 1994 conviction for narcotics trafficking in Los Angeles County, which resulted in a three-year prison sentence.
MS-13 has established more than a dozen cliques in immigrant neighborhoods such as Westlake, Pico-Union, Koreatown, and Hollywood in Los Angeles. After his release from prison, Jandres-Parada was arrested again for firearm possession and served another three-year sentence. Like many MS-13 members, he was deported to El Salvador, where the gang expanded its influence and gained political power. Some deported members established new cliques across the United States, from Virginia to Tennessee to Nevada.
The gang’s structure is fueled by proceeds from drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnappings. Jandres-Parada was subsequently apprehended upon reentering the United States and served time for illegal reentry before being deported to El Salvador once again. There, he continued to oversee MS-13’s extensive transnational operations.
The indictment reveals that MS-13 operates through a hierarchical structure, with lower-level cliques reporting to regional tiers and zones, which in turn report to street and prison bosses, ultimately answering to the Ranfla Nacional. The gang boasts over 200 cliques across the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and has expanded its reach into Mexico, collaborating with various drug cartels.
Jandres-Parada now faces charges in New York for conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and conspiracy to finance terrorism. The indictment further highlights MS-13’s political influence in Central America, including a truce with El Salvador’s political leaders at one point. By 2016, the gang was even conducting militarized training operations, including the use of improvised explosive devices.
In a separate incident, another MS-13 leader, Elmer Canales-Rivera, also known as Crook de Hollywood, was arrested at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston in November 2023. U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland stated that Canales-Rivera, a founding member of MS-13’s Twelve Apostles of the Devil, bears responsibility for the gang’s decades-long campaign of terrorizing communities, targeting law enforcement, and spreading violence both in the United States and abroad.
1 Response
There are no errors or inaccuracies in the post. However, to support the claim about the apprehension of Freddy Ivan Jandres-Parada, also known as Lucky De Park View, it would be helpful to provide credible sources. Here are a few sources that reported on this incident:
1. Department of Justice (DOJ) Press Release: The DOJ issued a press release on July 15, 2021, announcing the arrest of Freddy Ivan Jandres-Parada on nar