The announcement comes after a top MS-13 leader was caught and arrested in Virginia last week.
A trio of alleged MS-13 gang members, who are in the country illegally, have been arrested in Florida as suspects in a murder that happened nearly a decade ago.
During a press conference on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the suspects have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the May 2015 killing of Gerson Vilelio Vasquez Portillo, 22, in Palm Beach County.
The victim was believed to be affiliated with a rival gang when he was killed. He was stabbed approximately 100 times by several gang members before being shot in the head, Bondi said at the press conference.
The three suspects have been identified as Jose Ezequiel Gamez-Maravilla, Hugo Adiel Bermudez-Martinez, and Wilber Rosendo Navarro-Escobar.
According to the Department of Justice, MS-13 is a violent transnational gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador that operates throughout parts of the United States. President Donald Trump has designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization, allowing federal agencies more resources to track down and prosecute its members.
“These gangs are organized, they are terrorists,” Bondi said. “And look at these three guys. They thought they got away with it for almost a decade, but they did not.
The suspects in this case are the final of nine defendants to be taken into custody as part of a larger operation known as “Operation Shadow of the Beast,” officials said. The operation has led to four cold case homicides being solved, which have all been connected to MS-13 gang activity in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
The collaboration involved local and federal agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
