Alleged MS-13 leader, José Ayala-Alcantara, is arrested in Mexico

• Alleged MS-13 leader, José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara was arrested.
• He is believed to be second in command of the violent gang.
• Ayala-Alcantara is wanted in Houston, Texas.

José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, allegedly the second in command of the dangerous MS-13 gang was arrested in Mexico City, authorities reported. José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, 55, originally from El Salvador, has a federal arrest warrant in Houston, Texas, for various crimes.

The federal charges against alleged gang member José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, consulted by MundoNow, include conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, narcoterrorism conspiracy, organized crime conspiracy, murder and robbery.

MS-13 leader José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara is arrested in Mexico

Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security of Mexico City, reported on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, the capture of José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, known as ‘El Indio de Hollywood’, in a house in the Buenavista neighborhood of the Cuauhtémoc Delegation.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed on Thursday, February 23, 2023, the accusation against José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara and designated him as second in command of MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, a gang from El Salvador.

The dangerous gang member was hiding in Colonia Buenavista

Mexican authorities captured José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara after a citizen complaint that alerted them of the MS-13 leader’s presence. He was using false identity and entered Mexico illegally.

Undercover agents in Colonia Buenavista obtained the exact address where José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara was hiding. The agents also began to follow him until officials from the Secretary of the Navy captured him. The exact date of the arrest was not revealed in the information provided by the Mexican authorities.

«He authorized and directed acts of violence»

In the indictment against José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, along with other high-ranking MS-13 officials, the US Department of Justice maintains that the Salvadoran gang member is «engaged in a litany of violent terrorist activities designed to influence the government from El Salvador.»

José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, according to the indictment, «authorized and directed» acts of violence «in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere as part of a concerted effort to expand the influence and territorial control of MS-13.»

Ayala-Alcantara coordinated a regime of terror

José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara’s regime of terror includes the «operation of military-style training camps with firearms and explosives» for the MS-13 gang members who are at the bottom of the hierarchy of the violent criminal group.

“The defendants have actively participated in public demonstrations of violence to threaten and intimidate the civilian population, obtain and control territory, and manipulate the electoral process in El Salvador. Several of the defendants have played prominent roles in past and current MS-13 negotiations,” the documents detail.

US authorities will request his extradition

So far, the FBI office in Houston has not officially stated when they will ask the Mexican government to extradite Salvadoran gang member José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara so that he can face criminal charges in the US.

In Mexico, the members of the MS-13 under the command of José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, together with the other leaders, have forged alliances with the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel in drug trafficking from that country to the United States. They also participate in extortion and violence against immigrants in transit to the United States.