Long Island prosecutors welcome arrest of alleged East Coast MS-13 leader

Prosecutors on Long Island praised federal officials for the arrest of the alleged East Coast leader of MS-13 in Virginia this week.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest of the MS-13 leader Thursday. Gang members have been accused in a series of vicious slayings beginning in 2016 that included the machete hacking killings in Brentwood of teenage girls Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens.

“As a prosecutor who spent years prosecuting brutal crimes of MS-13 here on Long Island, this arrest by the Department of Justice is a clear victory,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who worked previously as a federal prosecutor, including on cases against MS-13.

“Taking down a top leader of MS-13 doesn’t just disrupt their chain of command, it also sends a clear message to the entire gang that we will hunt you down, we will find you and we will dismantle your organization,” Tierney said.

Long Island became a nationally recognized epicenter of the gang’s violence after President Donald Trump, in his first term, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Long Island to deride its rampage, which also included the killing of four young men who were slain in a Central Islip park in 2017.

The alleged MS-13 leader, Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, 24, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested at his home in Woodbridge, Virginia.

He was arrested on an administrative immigration warrant, alleging that he’s in the U.S. illegally, and was charged with illegally possessing a firearm.

Authorities did not specify what evidence they have to allege Villatoro’s leadership role in MS-13. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement: “I have worked for years to dismantle MS-13, eviscerating their local leadership through prosecutions of high-ranking members of the gang and dozens of other defendants. “

The FBI began surveilling the home where Villatoro lived with his mother, after she had reported a burglary there in August 2024, authorities said in court records.

According to an affidavit filed by an ICE agent in the Eastern District of Virginia in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant, the FBI’s Special Weapons and Tactics (“SWAT”) Team breached the front and rear doors of the home “after knocking and announcing their presence to no avail.”

“SWAT agents observed [Villatoro] in an alcove leading to the residence’s garage,” the court papers said. He “ducked behind a small wall out of view and did not comply with the agents’ demands that he exit the residence. After agents deployed a stun grenade, [Villatoro] eventually came close enough to the front door to be pulled out of the residence.”

Authorities said in the court papers that Villatoro “confirmed that the bedroom in the garage was his.” It was that location where authorities found “a Taurus, model G2C, 9-millimeter handgun bearing serial no. ACH119455 [which] was observed in plain view on a shelf near the bed.”

Authorities also allegedly found three other guns, ammunition and two suppressors, court documents said.