Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are touting the arrest of an MS-13 gang leader outside Washington, DC — and they say he is one of the top kingpins for the brutal gang in the US.
Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, a 24-year-old illegal migrant, was booked on weapons charges on Thursday morning after a raid near Dale City, Virginia, in Prince William County. He is just one of 340 illegal migrant criminals busted by a new FBI taskforce this month alone.
“This is what happens when you let good cops be cops,” Patel said at a press conference.
“It’s an honor to work alongside the tough and fearless leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, CPB and Governor [Glenn] Youngkin,” Patel told The Post. “The arrest of an MS-13 leader this morning is a critical victory for law enforcement and a strong message to violent gangs: your days of terrorizing our communities are numbered.”
The joint operation — which included the arrest of Villatoro — was launched on March 3, and involved the FBI, ICE, ATF, the Virginia State Police and Prince William County Police Department.
Villatoro – who has been in the country for more than a decade and was believed to be recruited to the gang in middle school — was nabbed by FBI agents who were staking out his mother’s home in Woodbridge about 23 miles outside of the capital, according to court documents.
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He was nabbed by FBI agents who were staking out his mother’s home in Woodbridge about 23 miles outside of the capital, according to court documents.
An FBI SWAT team breached the front and rear doors of the home. Agents saw Villatoro trying to hide in an alcove leading to the garage of the home, and said he ducked behind a small wall out of view.
When he refused to come out and surrender, agents lobbed a stun grenade and dragged him out of the house and into federal custody.
Upon searching his garage bedroom, task force officers discovered a trove of weapons, including a Taurus G2C 9-mm handgun, three additional firearms, ammunition and two silencers.
“Make no mistake — he was one of the top leaders, heading up all MS-13 violent crimes on the East Coast. He was responsible for heinous acts, and he should never have been in this country,” Bondi said.
Virginia Gov. Youngkin reiterated that the Commonwealth is not a sanctuary state — and warned local jurisdictions that claim sanctuary status are “absolutely unacceptable.”
“Look who’s in your community. Look who’s living around the corner from citizens that are going to work, trying to build their lives in a place that’s the best place in America to live and work and raise a family,” the governor said.
“And yet, we have one of the top three operatives from the most dangerous gang in America, in the world, living around the corner — and you sanctuary cities want to give refuge to them.
“Listen, it’s time for us to recognize that Virginia is not a sanctuary state. We are working to get the bad guys out of here, and if you are a local jurisdiction and not helping us and not cooperating with us, you are working against the safety of all of those men and women that call your jurisdiction home.”
Youngkin also threatened that if counties don’t operate with ICE, “we’ll defund them” — and referenced Fairfax County, a Democratic stronghold just southwest of DC.
Describing Villatoro as “the worst of the worst,” AG Bondi reiterated that the arrest was part of the mission given to her by President Trump.
“President Trump’s directive to me when I became Attorney General was to keep America safe, and make America safe again,” she said.
“We didn’t need new laws, as President Trump said, we needed a new president.”
Villatoro was in the country illegally for around a decade, Bondi revealed on Fox News Thursday night.
“We believe he was recruited in middle school,” the nation’s top law enforcement officer said. “In middle school. Can you believe that?”
She slammed the Biden administration for not aggressively tracking down illegal migrants like Villatoro.
“One of the agents said if you wanna rock MS-13 to its core, arrest him,” Bondi told host Laura Ingraham. “That shows how bad he was. He was one of the top leaders.”
Erik Siebert, interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, touted the results of the coordinated law enforcement operation, and issued a warning to other lawbreakers.
“In less than a month, we have arrested 340 suspects,” he told reporters. “To the criminals, all I have to say is, ‘we’re coming.’”
MS-13 was founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s by Salvadoran immigrants, and has been designated a terrorist organization by President Trump.
The vicious gang has been responsible for a series of high-profile killings, kidnappings, and drug-related crimes across the US, including in and around Washington, DC, California and on Long Island.
Long Island communities like Brentwood have seen some of the worst of MS-13’s savagery in recent years, including the merciless slaying of innocent teenagers.
In January, Jairo Saenz, 28, a high-ranking MS-13 leader nicknamed “Funny,” grinned in federal court as he was hit with a 60-year sentence for a series of seven horrific murders dating back to 2016.
On his orders, MS-13 members brutally murdered Kayla Cuevas, 16, and her 15-year-old friend, Nisa Mickens, with baseball bats and machetes, prosecutors said. The teens were killed because the gang believed they had disrespected them on social media.
Long Island’s top law enforcement authorities said they’d welcome the expansion of the Virginia task force to include New York.
“Because of the violent history of MS-13 on Long Island, law enforcement in Nassau and Suffolk counties have been working with our state and federal partners all along,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told The Post.
“If our federal partners want to expand, it’s a great idea and we hope that it would bring funding, which would allow us to do more to combat these dangerous gangs.”
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said she was hopeful Gov. Kathy Hochul wouldn’t drag her feet on bringing in the feds to help bring about an end to the scourge of gangs terrorizing local communities.
“Gov. Hochul should be open to a conversation about having a gang task force here. I support it. We should do everything in our power to take down these gangs.”
“In Nassau, we always work closely with our federal partners, state partners. I work with whoever will help us improve public safety.”
An FBI spokesperson told The Post that the Virginia task force will now be used as a model nationwide.
“This task force proves what’s possible when strong leadership meets real collaboration. In just four weeks, we took down 342 criminals in Virginia by uniting state, local, and federal resources—backed by DOJ and driven by AG Pam Bondi’s vision,” the spokesperson said.
“With Governor Youngkin setting the standard, we’re now taking this model nationwide to restore law and order in communities across America.”
Waging war on the group has been listed as a top priority by the Trump administration.
Thursday’s raid comes a week after the FBI announced the arrest of one of the agency’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives,” believed to be MS-13 member Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales.”
MS-13 is one of the most dangerous gangs in our country, and we are going to fight until they are completely dismantled,” Bondi said.
